What is unmanaged business travel costing my company?

Understanding the true cost of business travel isn’t always straightforward. Unlike fixed operating expenses such as payroll, business travel involves a mix of direct and indirect costs from booking time and supplier rates to lost productivity and policy leakage.

Unmanaged business travel – when employees book travel outside of an approved process or travel management partner, can quietly erode your company’s travel budget. These hidden costs add up through out-of-policy bookings, lack of data visibility, and missed savings opportunities.

At Corporate Travel Management (CTM), we help businesses uncover these costs and design managed travel programmes that maximise efficiency, savings, and traveller satisfaction.

What is unmanaged business travel?

Unmanaged business travel occurs when employees book trips independently through consumer websites or direct supplier channels rather than via a Travel Management Company (TMC) or corporate booking tool.

This approach may seem convenient but typically leads to:

• higher fares and hotel rates due to lack of negotiated discounts
• time wasted searching and comparing options
• limited visibility into spend and traveller activity
• increased risk and weaker duty of care.

Over time, unmanaged travel can cost significantly more than a structured, managed travel programme.

Why is booking business travel not always straightforward?

How much time are your employees spending booking travel each week?

There is the initial search for price and availability, the consideration of alternative travel days and then a price comparison between multiple suppliers before an itinerary is finalised. Industry knowledge also tells us that most travel bookers are usually employed for other administrative tasks; taking time away from other important duties and hindering their efficiency. Therefore, an important indirect cost of booking to review is – employee cost per hour.

Introducing a TMC and an online booking tool such as Lightning could reduce your employees’ booking time from over half an hour to less than ninety seconds, significantly reducing the booking cost.

How can you be sure you are getting the best value?

Without a managed travel programme, businesses rely on consumer sites or direct supplier bookings, often missing out on corporate rates, value-adds, and policy compliance.

Working with a TMC like CTM gives you access to:

• negotiated global hotel and airfares through CTM’s buying power
• direct supplier partnerships and exclusive corporate discounts
• centralised access to preferred rates online and offline
• strategic account management to optimise ongoing savings.

A travel policy that requires employees to book travel through a TMC helps drive savings, efficiency, duty of care, and a better booking experience.

For every pound your business invests in a TMC-managed travel programme, you will see a positive return in cost savings through negotiated supplier rates and enforceable policy controls. If you’re paying more to book and manage your travel than you’re saving, it might be time to talk to an experienced TMC.

How can travel technology reduce the hidden costs of business travel?

Technology is a critical driver of savings and efficiency in any travel programme. Unmanaged travel often lacks the visibility and approval controls needed to keep costs in check.

Modern travel platforms should deliver:

• automated policy and approval workflows
• real-time access to flight and hotel content 24/7
• built-in duty of care and traveller tracking features
• streamlined booking experiences across devices.

Intuitive travel technology tools that create a positive end-user experience for your travellers and bookers are an important consideration when it comes to developing a budget-friendly travel policy. Without an internal approval system, businesses that allow staff to book business travel directly can find they are subject to a significant degree of out-of-policy booking costs.

Technology and user-friendly online booking tools, such as Lightning, offering 24/7 accessibility, inbuilt booking and policy controls and approval systems, can save your business thousands of pounds per year.

Do you have easy access to your travel programme’s expense data? If you are not leveraging this information into travel policy strategies you may risk advancing overall programme goals, continued leakage, poor programme visibility and increased cost. Furthermore, access to frequently updated pre-ticketing data allows you to capture and respond to policy breaches before they happen, helping to reduce spending and improving policy compliance.

Data analysis tools such as CTM Data Hub provide all of this along with an easy-to-digest visual representation of your corporate travel programme’s performance.

How does a travel management company help drive savings?

Partnering with a TMC offers more than just booking support, it delivers strategic oversight of your travel spend and policy compliance.

A TMC helps your business:

• streamline the booking process and automate approvals
• negotiate competitive supplier rates and contracts
• access a wide rage of travel content
• access integrated technology and reporting tools
• receive proactive advice from dedicated account managers.

CTM’s experts work alongside your business to create a travel programme that’s scalable, sustainable, and designed for measurable ROI , saving both time and money.