How to Manage Travel Expenses

Guide to cutting down on business travel expenses

Travelling is great! Everybody loves it, no matter if it comes to sunny beaches, culturally-rich sites, or snowy, fresh-aired mountains. However, travel is always expensive – no matter if you’re visiting a town nearby, or a country way across the world.

Business travel is even more inconvenient – you get to spend a lot of cash, without experiencing a location to its fullest, engaging in tedious and costly activities. It will always make you go out of your daily budget and spend more money than you would if you were to stick to areas you find familiar. However, nowadays, there are many ways you can achieve cutting down on travel costs.

Don’t Go Travelling

I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but the best way to cut down on business travel costs is to reduce the need for travel in the first place. Videoconferencing is a new, innovative way to save a whole lot on unnecessary business excursions. Nowadays, online meetings are just as efficient as talking to a client or a business partner in person.

Videoconferencing, however, has a sad history behind it. When it was pioneered, back in the early 90s, the idea might have been a bit too early to meet the demand. The connections were significantly (and this is an understatement) slower that they are nowadays and the glitches were more than a common thing.

This led to old-school businessmen regarding the idea as unprofessional, which is why videoconferencing is picking up in pace only as of lately. Fear not though, this gives you, as a young entrepreneur a great advantage in terms of spending less money than the hard-boiled non-believers in such a way of communication.

Sometimes You Have to Travel

There are some instances, in which you really cannot avoid travelling – such as doing business with one of the mentioned old-school businesses, or physical goods transactions. Luckily, there are many ways to trim the costs, even when travel is unavoidable.

» Booking in advance

Reserving your resting spot early is one of the best ways to avoid unnecessary monetary troubles. Airlines, as well as hotels offer discounts to booking in advance, generally two weeks ahead.

» Using a less obvious airport

Most business travel nowadays is done via airplanes. Therefore, if you have a choice, try using a less obvious airport. All in all, you have to calculate – your air trip isn’t your only cost; you have to take cab fairs or rental car costs into account to, so planning ahead is the main way to dwindle the costs.

» Sharing

Finding a temporary flat mate is more than forgiving in terms of your budget. Choose to share accommodation, using a variety of options available online nowadays and you’re looking for a much more affordable travel expense.

» Travel agents

Although these cost money, they tend to be more than worth a buck. Instead of diverting your attention from business, find a travel professional who will find you the best possible deal. It is a valid investment and more often than not, you will end up spending less money than you would when organizing the trip on your own – these experts usually have connections and offer great deals!

» Avoid overstaffing

Bring only the necessary personnel with you. Although group discounts are more than present, you should always look to account for other expenses that might ensue, such as food and beverages.

The key to coming up with a less expensive business travel is to avoid travelling in the first place. If the trip turns out unavoidable, well, you’ll have to do quite a bit of planning. Fear not however, seeing as how following this guide will doubtlessly greatly dwindle your travel costs.

All above images courtesy of Creative Commons and Pixabay

Author bio:

Diana Smith is a full time mom of two beautiful girls and a passionate writer. In her free time she enjoys writing about a variety of home and small business subjects, including marketing and promotion.

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