In this day and age, when many corporations are requiring that their business divisions and subsidiaries become autonomous and self-sufficient, consolidating travel management throughout the company can have a dramatic impact on bottom line profits. Consolidated travel management does not necessarily mean corporate control and governance of travel expenditures. It means utilizing the larger corporate entity to bring travel buying power to all of the operations under the corporate umbrella.

The best way to achieve the savings and benefits that travel management will bring to the company is by outsourcing the services to a major travel management company. Many companies and individuals believe that by booking their own tickets, utilizing the multitude of online travel services saves them money. This is generally a misconception. A travel management company’s services will on average amount to 4% of a company’s travel budget. This 4% in service charges is generally offset by an average savings of 8% to 12% in overall travel expenditures through the savings that the travel management company will provide.

At the point when a company’s air travel expenditures exceed $250K a year, a travel management company can provide meaningful savings. These savings come to the company in many ways:

Adherence to company travel policies – travel management companies will provide systems that either prevent or advise should a traveler book air, hotel and/or car reservations outside corporate travel policies.

Best fare search capabilities – travel management companies have the ability to search, in seconds, to obtain the best possible airfares across, the GDS, charters and consolidators, low cost carriers, web-fares and scheduled airline inventories. There are also wholesale fares, especially on international flights, that an individual will not be able to identify on a personal Internet search. Every travel management company will utilize a different travel search engine, one of the best travel search engines in the industry is WebFLYR 4.0 recently implemented by TQ3 Navigant in the USA http://www.navigant.com or http://www.navigant.ca in Canada.

Hotel and car rental savings and promotions – a travel management company has a great deal of buying power and will pass the discounts and special promotions on to their clients.

Dynamic reports – no one can make informed decisions without information. Travel management companies have the ability to provide the necessary data that allows a corporation to set its travel policies in a manner that will not only save money but, allow for traveler efficiency.

Travel management companies also provide other benefits including promotional and group travel, 24/7 emergency services, assistance with visas and passports and post travel support.

Robert Berman is a business consultant specializing in business development, strategic planning, acquisitions & mergers and international sales & marketing. He has been a columnist for the National Post Newspaper under the byline of "The Business Doctor" and he has authored "The Business Buyer's Manual". He is available as a keynote speaker in many areas of business. He may be reached at Robert.Berman@businessbuyersmanual.com or visit http://www.businessbuyersmanual.com