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How to choose a company that organizes business trips?

To make an excellent choice, you need to find several companies and then compare their offers to match your needs.

 

The “5 YES” method will help you decide. Ask yourself these 5 questions and if you answer “YES “each time, you’ve found the right company:

  1. Does the company have access to a wide range of inventory (e.g. hotels, and flight offers) and has sufficient experience at corporate travel?
  2. Does it offer 24/7 travel support in case of unforeseen circumstances?
  3. Does it work online?
  4. Is it recommended by large companies?
  5. Is it focused on the business customer?

 

What kind of inventory and experience is needed?

When talking experience it’s not about the year when the company was established, for a travel agency with a long tradition does not guarantee effectiveness. Some travel agencies work in an outdated way, nonetheless, they keep going. They function thanks to cooperation with few, but accustomed clients.

You should look for a company with sufficient inventory: that can boast access to a large and current offer of flights and hotels, with an extensive network of contacts in other countries.

 

What type of traveler support is the best?

The three most important features that a good customer service should have:

  • individual approach to clients,
  • 24/7 availability,
  • possibility of receiving multiple calls at the same time.

There are few companies that provide customer care that meets all these 3 characteristics. Typically, if the travel agent offers personalized attention and availability, it will not be able to deal with multiple issues at once. No wonder, because the time of people answering the phones is limited. On the other hand, a company that provides 24/7 access to its support department and unlimited contact options will not provide an individual approach (24/7 and unlimited contact is achieved thanks to the support of computer bots).

From the traveler’s perspective, the ideal is to be able to call 24/7 support, be sure that someone will pick up the phone immediately and be aware that there is a human on the other side, not a computer program. At Hotailors, we offer a hybrid support model — using both chat, phone and email.

 

Why is it important to manage corporate travel online?

If you send employees abroad and your company’s business goals depend on these trips, you must be aware that time is precious.

Managing corporate travel via the internet and digitalised systems ensures smooth processes. Without it, every activity of the company organizing your trip will take longer, because even the smallest task will have to be performed by a human. Even for such a mundane thing as a report, you sometimes have to wait for two weeks.

If the travel agency serving your company provides access to modern technologies, it will allow your company to go through the digital transformation smoothly. Saving time and money, or being able to have more meetings with clients on the same budget, can add to your company’s competitive advantage.

Imagine planning a trip to a new, remote location (choosing flights and accommodation) takes about 5 minutes. Without digital transformation, it is impossible to plan such a trip quickly, economically, and safe.

 

Where to look for opinions of travel agencies that support business trips?

It is best to follow the opinions of large international corporations.

In this case, the matter is simple: if the travel company can organize the travel of large corporations, it means it has the resources to help each organization. In addition, the opinions issued by this type of customer are more credible.

 

How to spot a travel agency that focuses on serving business customers?

If business travel is an important aspect of your company, consider choosing the solution that will best suit you. The question that should be asked is whether travel agencies whose customers are everyone (including private individuals) can meet B2B expectations?

A company operating in B2B should know and understand the needs of a business client. Good practices and meeting the expectations of B2B customers include:

  • relieving the customer in settlements (e.g. by offering one collective invoice for the entire trip, instead of separate from carriers, hotels, restaurants),
  • streamlining the process of approving travel plans so that the supervisor has more time,
  • displaying only those offers that are in line with the travel policies in force in the company,
  • reports on the spot, not on request.

 

Why Hotailors?

Does the company have to meet all the conditions of the “5 YES” method? It probably doesn’t have to, but at Hotailors we believe that these 5 elements are good determinants of effectiveness in the B2B travel industry.

 

At Hotailors, we meet all 5 conditions:

Do we have access to current hotel and carrier offers, and do we have experience in this industry? — we have access to over 2,000,000 accommodation places and to all major airlines. We work with travel agents all over the world who act as local experts and support. We have been operating since 2016 and we deal exclusively with business travel.

Do we offer 24/7 traveler’s support in case of unforeseen circumstances? — 24/7 our agents are waiting to help. You can always contact them by phone, e-mail, and via chat. They help with the selection of offers as well as during the trip. They can make a reservation remotely if, for example, due to a pandemic, the destination hotel is closed.

Do we offer online travel management? — Our solution is SaaS (Software as a service). We provide our clients with a technology supported by AI and machine learning, which can suggest the best solution (also in line with the client’s budget and travel policy). Traveling with us, you can plan your trips in 5 minutes, and instead of multiple invoices for various services (from hotels or carriers), you get one from Hotailors.

Do large companies recommend us? — we can boast of opinions from such giants as Microsoft, Amadeus, Vodafone, and in 2020 our offer was added to the SAP Concur App Center.

Are we focused on the business client? — We were established to serve only business customers. We know the problems and needs of companies traveling for business purposes. We have built our SaaS solution in such a way that the head of the company, travel manager and the employee sent on a journey have access to simple and effective solutions. At Hotailors, all data and processes are located in one system accessible through a browser, and you can try this system before purchase.

 

Examples of companies that organize business trips:

If you are looking for a business travel company and you don’t want to be limited to choosing from one option, here is a list of different companies found online and sorted by name:

  • ATA Travel
  • Bissole
  • eSky
  • eTravel
  • Hotailors
  • Intour Polska
  • LOT Travel
  • Polish Travel Quo Vadis
  • Weco-Travel
  • Why Not Travel

 

We greet and wish you safe journeys,
The Hotailors team