Are you a corporate travel manager grappling with the complexities of business travel? You’re not alone. With the growing trend of companies using consumer travel apps to manage business trips, it’s easy to get caught up in the convenience these platforms offer. But have you ever stopped to wonder, “Are these consumer-focused apps really equipped to handle the complications of business travel?”
Do you find yourself overwhelmed by the complexities of business travel as a corporate travel manager? You are not alone.
Are you using Travel Apps for Business Needs?
Generally, with the growing trend of companies using consumer travel apps to manage business trips, it’s easy to get caught up in the convenience these platforms offer. Are these apps capable of handling the complexities of business travel?
Imagine your sales team having to travel for an urgent client meeting. You book flights, hotels, and car rentals via a consumer travel app, thinking you’ve got everything sorted. But what about duty of care, expense management, last-minute changes, or compliance with your company’s travel policies?
We’ll go over some of the reasons why these consumer-focused apps aren’t the best choice for organising business trips.
Reasons why you shouldn’t use Consumer Travel Apps for your Business Needs?
#1 The inadequacy of customization
Consumer travel apps are designed with individual travellers in mind, focusing on features like leisure and vacation deals. This makes them less adaptable to the unique requirements of corporate travel, such as approval hierarchies, spend limits, and specific policies.
Let’s say that your team is attending a week-long conference. The consumer app may suggest budget hotels far from the event, increasing transportation costs and reducing networking opportunities, simply because it is not programmed to understand the context of business travel.
Customization is not a luxury but a necessity in business travel, enabling you to align travel plans with corporate objectives and requirements.
#2 Expense management chaos
One of the major challenges for companies is managing travel expenses in an organised manner. Consumer travel apps are not built to handle the complex expense approval and management workflows that corporations require.
A consumer app may not provide the invoice in a format that aligns with your company’s accounting standards, causing issues at the time of expense reconciliation. Is it GST or TDS-compliant?
Comparatively, when you use a business travel system like TaxiVaxi, that syncs with your company’s expense standards. Business Travel System can greatly reduce the time and effort spent juggling individual expense reports and invoices.
#3 Limited Control Over Company Travel Policies
There is room for policy violations and inconsistencies with consumer travel apps because they aren’t designed to enforce company travel policies.
Many consumer apps allow bookings at any hotel, irrespective of whether it meets your company’s security and quality guidelines as per your corporate travel policy.
Therefore, you need a business-specific travel management system. Why?
Because with the help of such system, you can set maximum spending limits and prevent trips that go against policy from being booked. This streamlines the approval procedure, improves budget control, and guarantees compliance.
#4 Lack of dedicated support
Consumer travel apps rarely provide the kind of specialised, round-the-clock support that business travellers require.
The automated chatbots offered by the majority of consumer apps are no-doubt useful. But, they have their limits when it comes to solving more complex problems.
Let’s say one of your salespeople’s flights got cancelled at the last minute, and they’re stuck at the airport. They have an urgent client meeting and need to reschedule as soon as possible. A consumer app might leave them stranded, navigating automated help options with no immediate solution.
Dedicated travel management systems provide round-the-clock human support to help you streamline your business trips and quickly resolve any problems that may arise. This ensures that your team members will be present when needed and helps prevent downtime.
#5 Inadequate expense reporting and analytics
Consumer travel apps often lack a management information system (MIS) for expense reporting and analytics. These features are crucial for businesses to monitor and control travel spending efficiently.
Let’s say that the operations manager in your team is trying to consolidate a month-end travel expense report. If your team has used multiple consumer travel apps for bookings, the process can become a nightmare. As the process involves humungous amount of manual data entry and currency conversions if the trip is international.
By using a specialised travel management system, you can generate reports that not only break down costs by category but also provide insights useful for planning future spending. Your accounting team will appreciate the time and effort savings this creates.
Conclusion
Business travel requires tailored solutions that address the specific issues and complexities that companies face. Using a consumer travel app for business purposes may seem like a good idea at first, but it often ends up being a logistical nightmare due to the lack of essential features and support.
Know more: The benefits of TaxiVaxi for Corporates.
Using a specialised travel management system like TaxiVaxi can greatly improve your business’s efficacy and make employee travel easy and stress-free.
