Corporate Travel Managers Tighten The Belt
It’s interesting to observe how the economy is affecting travel, and in particular, the frequent flyer industry. Travelfli feels pretty lucky that our company is arguably recession resistant, in that our product becomes more valuable as beleaguered and cash-tight travelers look for ways to save money.
That being said, it’s also worth taking a look at how corporations are tightening their belts as we spiral into a total depression (just kidding, that’s overdoing it). A recent article published in the New York Times (thanks for the tip, Elaine) talked about how corporate travel managers are attempting to save cash during these unruly economic times.
The strategies range from encouraging employees to buy early when prices are cheaper or to use online booking engines to get the best deals. Apparently some corporate tools are even making employees consider whether or not the trip is even worth taking, such as making them check a box that reads, “Yes, I did consider a video-conference or teleconference in lieu of taking this trip, and yes, I know my company is flirting with bankruptcy and this trip may just push it over the edge.” Ok, the second part may be an exaggeration, but you get the point.
Some companies are even going so far as to provide economic enticements for employees who make an effort to cut costs related to travel. These include incentives to fly coach rather than business class or educating employees on carbon emissions data to encourage tree huggers to think twice about hopping on that planet polluting plane.
It looks as though employees understand the reasoning behind the cash crunch and are proactively taking the initiative to manage their corporate travel more effectively. Interestingly enough, the one aspect of travel that isn’t being touched is the trillions (yes, 20,000,000,000,000 to be exact), of frequent flyer miles that are currently unredeemed in the airline industry. Businesses have historically provided frequent flyer miles to employees an added perk of flying a lot for business. For the most part companies allow employees to keep miles they accumulate for business to use for personal travel. Travelfli doesn’t really predict this changing any time soon because there would likely be such a huge public outcry from seriously pissed off corporate travelers that it would turn out to be counterproductive. But you never know. It might make sense for corporations to pay employees a reimbursement plus a premium for using miles on a really expensive fare. This would save money for the corporation and provide a way for employees to trade in miles for cash-plus an extra bonus. In this instance, it would make sense for corporations to manage their employees’ frequent flyer mile accumulations to suggest opportunities for mutually beneficial redemptions. Travelfli could obviously assist in this process and we’re keeping an eye out to see how this unfolds.
