What should I look for when booking a business trip?
If you regularly go on a business trip, you may well encounter that there is more to the booking process than you initially expected. I, Business Travel Consultant Jasper, like to list 5 common pitfalls when booking a business trip. Oh, and perhaps more importantly: tips to avoid these pitfalls!
1: Where has the time gone!
Many business travelers like to organize their own travel, but consider this: how much time and energy do you actually spend on the entire booking process? Finding and booking a flight or train trip, accommodation and transfer is no 1, 2, 3 and often takes more time than you had calculated in advance. Precious time that you probably could have spent better on other things....
- Tip: Start organizing your trip on time and take your time to do so. The earlier you start researching the options, the more choices and possibilities there often are and the lower the prices. You are also more likely to be able to adjust your own schedule. This also applies to submitting an early request to our Business Travel Consultants.
2: General (ticket) terms and conditions
Yes; the general (ticket) terms and conditions. Hardly anyone reads them and yet everyone agrees to them. For example, when you go on vacation by yourself, the travel days are usually fixed. Tickets often cannot be changed or cancelled. With a business trip, however, there is a good chance that there will be a last-minute change (e.g. a meeting that runs late or is cancelled). It is therefore very important to check the conditions of your travel products.
- Tip: It is often possible to make the terms of the ticket a lot more favorable for a small fee. Especially for a business trip, this can be very attractive. Therefore, read carefully what the conditions of the different travel options are.
3: Combine = key
After separately selecting a flight, hotel and rental car, it looks like you've made the best deal for yourself. But did you know that you can save a lot of money when travel products are combined?
- Tip: Uniglobe Alliance Travel operates within a large international network of cooperating travel agents with 700 Uniglobe offices in 60 countries. This way we can make use of the rates of colleague offices abroad, which can save you a lot of money. In addition, we often have special rates and contracts with providers, which can also be advantageous for your wallet. Ask us about the possibilities! (click here for more tips on saving costs when booking business travel)
4: Name change
Oops... you find out that the colleague you've been working with for years is not simply called French, but according to his passport, his official name is Francis. And Ann is actually called Annelies according to her passport. Unfortunately, changing a simple spelling mistake on a ticket can sometimes add up to tens of euros.
- TIP: Always ask your colleague to check all the details carefully before giving a final approval to book the ticket.
5: Insure yourself (and your colleagues)
Don't book a trip without booking proper insurance with it! Check carefully whether you are adequately insured for a business trip with your travel insurance.
- TIP: Some travel insurance companies have included in their terms and conditions that coverage does not apply when you are abroad for work. In addition, check whether there is a maximum travel duration for the number of consecutive travel days. With most insurers, this is 60 days.
These are just a few examples of pitfalls you may encounter when organizing a business trip. Also consider, for example, visa, vaccinations, travel restrictions etc. Want to make sure your trip is taken care of from A to Z? Then don't hesitate to contact contact Uniglobe Alliance Travel for professional travel advice. We are happy to take the hassle out of organizing your business trip so that you have time for other matters.
Travel Well!
Jasper,
Business Travel Consultant
