Travel reporting software is a valuable tool for managing travel, letting you drill down into spend patterns and trends to see the root causes of successes and issues in booking and expensing.

Knowing how to apply those insights can be key for your business. So, learn how from Cassie Kaplan, director of product management at American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT).

Why should companies prioritize reports on corporate travel?

Bargaining strength. You can summarize overall spending with airlines, hotels, and other travel providers to support your negotiations for better rates. For example, you may notice an airline has a new route in regions where you do business. That’s an area of opportunity to negotiate, using reporting data.

Proof points. Travel data helps you see if travel policy guidelines are being followed and travel provider agreements are being met. According to Amex GBT’s Air Monitor, some airlines may ask you to show that you’re fulfilling the volume commitments in your contract agreement.

Stronger oversight of travelers. Reports with complete and consistent data give you insights on travelers’ locations so you can easily connect in the event of an emergency. Those insights are valuable, considering an employer’s responsibility to protect the well-being of employees as part of their duty of care.

Booking patterns. Summary reports show the percentage of travelers booking online vs. offline with an agent. That comparison view will tell you whether you need to send out reminders to book online or a strong change management approach to shift booking habits.

What are the impacts of online vs. offline bookings in business travel?

Typically, we find travel bookers are more likely to choose the lower rate on a room or flight when they see price differences of travel providers online. With a phone booking, you don’t get that comparative view so it can result in an expensive flight or hotel.

Companies that use Amex GBT’s reporting tools can do a what-if analysis to see how much they can save by increasing online bookings from 70% to 80% as an example. But that’s just one way of applying insights.

How else can you use a what-if analysis effectively?

You can find out how much you’ll save by:

• Increasing the purchases of flight tickets three months in advance.
• Renegotiating with an airline or hotel for a cheaper rate.
• Switching from one city to another to host a corporate event.

We find when event planners do a comparative analysis of destinations, they can arrive at a destination that’s feasible and affordable, weighing factors like flight distance and hotel rates.

Of course, plans are always subject to change when it comes to business travel. That’s why our customers also have access to a disruption dashboard. It helps them understand the airlines that had the most cancellations and delays recently and the travelers that were impacted.

What are the advantages of using benchmarking features?

A benchmarking system designed for business travel can help you compare costs to industry standards. That way you can establish baselines and define best practices. Our reporting tool, Peer Travel InsightsTM gives you that capability. It uses parameters like your company’s number of employees, travel spend, and industry to compare your travel data against companies with similar traits.

You might think you negotiated a great rate with a hotel. But when you benchmark your rate against companies who spend similarly, you may find out your great rate is actually higher than average.

What are common KPIs in business travel reporting?

Policy outliers. Summary data of bookings helps identify when travelers are booking trips outside of their company’s travel provider like Amex GBT, which helps unlock savings and guard against travel risk. By surfacing those insights, companies will know when a change management plan is necessary.

Cost allocation. With booking and expensing integrated in your software, you can see the actual total cost of the trip that takes into account expenses after the trip was booked. With that full picture view, you can make sure expenses are properly matched to trips and create more accurate spend forecasts.

Spend effectiveness. What’s great about reporting is the different levels of data. You can sort data into categories like department and cost centers. You might notice one team has taken twelve big trips in a year vs. another team that’s taken two.

By comparing your travel spending to other departments in the company, you can see areas where you’re overspending or underutilizing cost-savers.

Unused tickets. You can keep track of unused flight tickets with reports that show the amount of used and unused flight credits. Amex GBT’s smart technology automatically issues refunds or credits so the ticket value doesn’t go to waste.

What types of travel reporting capabilities help teams work smarter?

Speed. High performance is a major consideration for many of our clients who expect to have accurate data delivered on demand.

Predictive modeling. With built-in machine learning algorithms, finance teams can make projections based on travel spend trends, taking the guesswork out of budgeting.

Alerts. Some companies have a business travel policy stating how many employees are allowed on the same flight, so they want to be notified when travelers exceed that amount. We find others wanting alerts when tickets exceed a price limit or if there’s a big drop in online bookings.

How does data quality play a part in actionable reporting?

Accuracy, completeness, and consistency are just some key areas that impact quality. Poor data quality falls behind in those areas which can lead to faulty decisions.

Also keep in mind, artificial intelligence (AI) in travel management software helps inform you on insights in booking and expense. But AI is only good as the data behind it. So, if a hotel brand is showing up inconsistently in your data, you get a flawed view of overall spending which can impact contract negotiations.

What are some tips for companies first adopting reporting software?

Take advantage of the resources available to you. Companies that use our software and services have access to live and recorded trainings that answer common questions like, “What is the most requested data point?” and “Why are people looking at it?” That’s because users are at the center of all our reporting tools.

To find out the type of reporting tool that’s right for you, click on “Let’s talk” below and speak with someone on our team.

https://www.amexglobalbusinesstravel.com