Business travel: Survey reveals common and costly corporate travel mistakes

There are a number of travel booking mistakes made by businesses that are easily avoidable. Photo / HighwayStarz

More than half (55 per cent) of businesses are losing out on saving when booking corporate travel in-house, according to a recent survey of 255 SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) owners and decision-makers.

The survey found the majority of surveyed businesses had made a booking mistake which typically costs money to resolve.

Mistakes included choosing the wrong time to book, and overbooking flights, said the study, which was commissioned by Corporate Traveller, a business travel management provider.

Avoiding these mistakes and saving resources is a reason many businesses employ a travel management company, said Corporate Traveller New Zealand’s general manager Angie Forsyth.

“Outsourcing to a travel management company can make the pain of booking business travel simpler, quicker and more cost-effective,” said.

“When business travel is managed entirely in-house, there’s always the risk those people won’t know all the tips and tricks to find savings, and often make completely avoidable errors.

These unknown tricks and easily-made mistakes are also reasons many individuals choose to book through travel agents for personal trips.

After asking businesses about nine different travel mistakes, Corporate Traveller ranked them according to how common they were.

Three most common travel booking mistakes made by businesses

1. Booking too close to the departure date

Almost a quarter (22 per cent)of respondents said they overspent on bookings because they booked too close to the travel date.

2. Incorrectly entering a traveller’s details

The second most common mistake was entering incorrect traveller details, such as misspelling a name or providing the wrong date of birth. These mistakes typically require time and occasionally money to rectify and, if left unchecked, could ruin a trip altogether.

3. Not aligning travel plans

A flight arrival time or hotel check-in window doesn’t always align and travellers can be left without a bed if bookings don’t account for logistics, or miss a flight if the layover is too short. Many businesses surveyed admitted to making mistakes when it came to aligning different travel services, which resulted in additional costs from having to make last-minute bookings or changes.

Other common mistakes included making bookings that weren’t approved or exceeded budgets, inconvenienced travellers, were with low-quality travel services, or, surprisingly, were for the wrong destination or date.

While the latter seems inconceivable, the Corporate Traveller survey found it was the seventh most common mistake when businesses booked travel; a mistake that was costly if a company has booked cheap airline tickets or hotels that typically don’t allow for refunds or changes.