Cost-Saving Strategies for Business Travel

Flying Business Class is cheaper than you think  ...if you understand miles. This year, I’ve spent a lot of hours flying - mostly long-haul. And here’s the fact: most of those flights were Business Class. Not because I like luxury (I do), but because I’ve learned how to make the airline miles system work. Here’s how. → Tip 1: Try upgrading at the counter My first Business Class flight was in 2018, and it changed everything. Sometimes you can upgrade at check-in or on the plane, but deals vary: Lufthansa upgrades can be around $900 instead of a $4–5K ticket.  Turkish Airlines and Emirates usually charge almost the same as full price. → Tip 2: Use miles for long-haul Business flights When you redeem miles for flights — especially transatlantic or cross-country — you get the best value. Example from one of my trips: Amsterdam → San Francisco on United Airlines  Price in miles: 126,000 miles + $84  Price in cash: $5,709 That’s how our family of four — two adults and two kids — flew Business Class for $346 total. (!) Important note here: Never redeem your miles directly through your bank’s portal. Instead, transfer your miles to airline loyalty programs and redeem them directly with the airline. For example:  From Chase Business → United Airlines (MileagePlus)  From Chase → KLM / Air France (Flying Blue)  From Amex → Air Canada (Aeroplan) This way, your miles are often worth 2–5× more compared to redeeming them through a bank portal. →  Tip 3: Avoid wasting miles Not all redemptions are equal:  For example, spending 250,000 miles on a JetBlue business class flight from San Francisco to New York just isn’t worth it - especially when you can sometimes fly business class from SF to Frankfurt on United for around 90,000 miles. Always research before redeeming. You’ll get the best value by using miles for long-haul Business or First Class, not short domestic flights. → Tip 4: Understand taxes and legal rules In the U.S., miles earned through credit-card spending aren’t taxable - even from business cards.  But sign-up bonuses can be, since banks often send a 1099 form. → Tip 5: Choose the right credit cards I use: Chase Ink Business – triple points on ads, travel, shipping, and internet.  Chase Sapphire – great for personal travel, 60K-point bonus, and useful perks like lounge access and delivery memberships. If your business runs ads or books frequent travel, these cards easily cover multiple Business Class trips per year. Final insight?  Miles aren’t free gifts, they’re a system. Once you understand how to collect and spend them, you can travel the world in comfort - without overpaying.

Many companies I speak with want to know how it's possible to cut travel costs by 30%. I don’t like just talking about savings, I’d rather show how it’s done. Here’s how we make it happen: () Discounted rates with airlines, hotel chains, and car rental companies () Custom contracts tailored to your company’s travel trends and patterns () Unused credits are tracked and applied to future trips () Custom travel policies to prevent overspending () Price drops are monitored and automatically rebooked at the lower rate () Detailed reporting and analytics to reduce unnecessary travel () Enrollment in corporate rewards programs relevant to your business () Automation of manual travel tasks to free up your team (time is money) Can we guarantee the lowest rate on every single flight? No. But if you want to save a whole lot of money on employee travel and streamline the process, that we can absolutely do. Less talking. More savings.

Your company should NOT be buying refundable tickets for meetings or incentive trips. The math doesn't work out in your favor. Read more about how we saved a client from lighting $10,000+ on fire. But first, why do companies want to buy refundable tickets versus non-refundable? It has to do with AIRLINE RULES. When companies buy a non-refundable airline ticket, if canceled, the value of the ticket typically becomes an e-credit on the traveler's profile. The company DOES NOT get the money back directly. However, most TMCs worth their salt will track the ticket credit for future use. Companies simply have to have clear policies with their employees that the value must be used on a future business trip (AllFly does this). If a REFUNDABLE ticket is canceled, the amount gets refunded to the original form of payment. Companies get emotional -- they say, "we want the money back, they are our tickets!" And we get it -- in this area, the airline's rules are tough for corp travel. However, we caution against buying ALL refundable fares. The math is NOT in your favor. Let's dig into an example from a client last week. They have a program in April to Cancun for 100 people. Our internal traveler cancellation rate across thousands of flights is 5%. In this program, on average, 5 people will cancel. The average fare will come in around $475 (tons of people coming from ORD). If 5 people cancel and those tickets get converted to eCredits, the company's exposure is $2,375. To protect against losing $2,375 -- the company considers paying EXTRA to make all the tickets refundable. However, on American, this ads +$138 to the ticket cost (as seen below) Across 100 tickets, that is an increase $13,800! 🤯 🤯 🤯 The pro move is to take the upfront savings of $13k. Could you maybe have a traveler or two get a "free" credit for future use? Sure, it can happen. But why spend $13k more to save $475 on a handful of tickets?

Just like Stella, we’ve gotten our groove back (for business travel) Gearing up for Boston tomorrow to host 42 CROs and heads of sales for a yummy dinner. Pumped. When we started traveling around to other cities doing IRL events again in 2022, we were rusty. And pretty innefficient when it came to making our trips productive (esp given how our execs were the ones traveling). Covid helped us forget what GTM teams are really supposed to do when on the road :) But today, is how we ensure Uber-successful, cost conscious, and ROI driven trips: 1) if we’re hosting an event of our own, leverage attendees for +1s to help fill the room with more net new ICP who we don’t know yet 2) limit travel to 2 days, if possible. 3) schedule well. Arrive early day 1. Load up mtgs in afternoon. Have an event night 1. Meetings day 2. Event night 2 4) if we’re traveling out to host a dinner on a Thursday for example, try to do a dinner or HH on Wednesday for a different yet still relevant group (like we’re doing in SF next week…dinner for CROs, HH for enablement leaders) 5) unless critical, no more than 2 team members travel 6) run reports ahead of time of all client POCs in market and try to set up mtgs while in town. Show customers the love they deserve. 7) if hosting events, try to get sponsors / partners to pay 8) bring swag that fits in a carry on. Ppl like to get something but doesn’t need to be much 9) pack light, make bouncing around downtown with a bag easy 10) if hosting an event, be super detailed in tracking RSVP roster. Populate notes ahead of time and share w colleagues who will be there. And drop into the google sheet the next day to brainbump more notes from convos 11) properly follow up with everyone as soon as humanly possible 12) if possible, fly home night 2 (like I’m doing on Thursday). That way I don’t kill my Friday plus I can see my kids Fri morning before school. 13) try to plan your travel around another event where you clients or prospects will be. And maybe attend. Like I’m doing with the pavilion event on Thursday. 14) book a cheap hotel room, close to your venue. If you plan mtgs right, you’ll spend almost no time there. Holiday Inn works great 15) connect with everyone you will or might meet while in town, on LinkedIn, before you leave 16) put up a custom OOO to let folks know exactly what you’re doing…and don’t be boring with it. Matt Green is good at this I think that’s the whole list for us? What else do you do for your travel?

Every CFO wants to cut travel costs… but most miss the simplest way to do it: switch how travel is managed. Here are 3 ways customers are saving 10–30% by managing travel a different way. Most companies book travel in one of two ways: Open booking, or through a traditional T&E platform. Customers coming from open booking tend to see the biggest savings. That’s because manual processes have constant back-and-forth for approvals, one-off vendor negotiations, and unused flight credits that slip through the cracks. Even newer platforms often fall short. Some charge extra for support, others bury fees in the fine print, and many still don’t offer full booking coverage. I’ve spoken to hundreds of customers and pulled together the top 3 ways they’re saving 10–30% on travel annually. Here’s where the savings come from: 1) Smarter Sourcing: Most mid-market companies have the occasional hotel or car rental deal, but often miss volume-based contracts with airlines or chain-wide hotel groups. Itilite helps customers source deals with all major airlines – easily consolidating deals, then supplementing them with our own negotiated rates. The result is a sourcing layer that reduces cost per transaction, increases policy compliance, and gives finance visibility into cost-saving opportunities. 2) Rebates: Customers who use our credit card program get 1.5% cashback upfront. On top of that, they get additional rebates based on how and where they spend. For a lot of finance teams, it’s the easiest win in the whole T&E program without needing to make any changes to their existing workflow. 3) Smarter Purchases: Several of Itilite’s features ensure customers benefit from inefficiencies in travel pricing. Customers love automated re-shopping — if prices drop post-booking, we rebook and pass the savings back. These are just the core three customs save on travel however I could go on about all the ways customers save on travel. For example, on average customers save 3 to 5 percent on the travel spend, because support is at no additional cost.  I'm genuinely curious to hear how others are approaching travel cost savings. What strategies is your travel team using to cut expenses? Drop them in the comments — I'd love to compare notes ⬇️

You’re the CFO of every business trip. Stop treating travel like free spending. Most people approach work travel like: ↳ “If I’m busy, it must count.” ↳ “I’ll sort receipts later.” ↳ “Mixing personal and business is fine.” But tax-efficient travel requires discipline, not assumptions. Here are 5 rules that save money: 1. Business purpose first ↳ Travel needs a clear work-related reason to qualify. 2. Lodging with a reason ↳ Hotels count when the stay is necessary for business activity. 3. Records are everything ↳ Dates, purpose, mileage, receipts, proof matters. 4. Don’t mix personal costs ↳ Separate leisure and business expenses clearly. 5. Rules keep changing ↳ Review local tax guidance every year. Business travel can be a financial lever. But only when managed with clarity. Good records create savings. Poor records create problems. Follow me Marc Henn for more. We want to help you Retire Early, Supercharge Your Cash Flow, and Minimize Taxes. Marc Henn is a licensed Investment Adviser with Harvest Financial Advisors, a registered entity with the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

I have a business travel rule that surprises people: If the meeting is six hours or less by car, I drive. Not because I love being in the car. Because by the time I leave the mountains of North Georgia, drive to the Atlanta airport, park, check bags, get through TSA, board, fly, land, wait on bags, and get to the hotel or client site... I can often be there in about the same amount of time. And with a lot less hassle. But here’s the key: I don’t treat the drive like “lost time.” I treat it like planned time. I call it my Trip Value Maximization Plan (TVMP). Here are my 6 rules for making business car travel more productive: 1.     Know the route before you go. 🗺️ A few days before the trip, I check the route at the actual time I expect to travel. I want to know the major turns, exits, construction areas, and trouble spots before I’m behind the wheel. Less guessing. Less stress. 2.     Pack your food and drinks. 🥪 A cooler with water, sandwiches, fruit, and snacks saves time, money, and frustration. And have you been through a fast-food drive-thru lately? This one matters. (I’m also grateful to my wife, Kristen Karr, who helps me with this every trip.) 3.     Decide what you’re going to learn. 📖 Music is fine. Sports talk is fine. But six hours in the car can also be an opportunity for leadership development, sales training, spiritual growth, business strategy, or personal improvement through podcasts or audiobooks. Don’t wait until you’re driving to decide. Load it before you leave. 4.     Schedule meaningful calls. 📱 I let my team, clients, and channel partners know when I’ll be on the road. Then I schedule three or four calls during the drive. The important part: I ask them to call me. That keeps me focused on the road instead of fumbling with my phone. 5.     Capture ideas while they’re fresh. 💡 Some of my best ideas show up when the road gets quiet. Use voice recorder, voicemail, voice-to-text, or a tool like Pocket AI Voice Recorder (my new weapon of choice). One simple trick: “Hey Siri, text (say your name)…” Then say the idea out loud. When you arrive, it’s waiting for you. 6.     Build in margin. ⌛ Don’t schedule the drive so tight that every stop feels like a failure. Take a break. Stretch. Walk around. Get some fresh air. The goal is not just to arrive. The goal is to arrive ready. Business travel by car can be dead time. Or it can be preparation time, learning time, relationship time, and thinking time. The difference is whether you plan it. What’s one thing you do to make road travel more valuable? Photo: Practicing Travel Buffer Time- the beautiful mountains of North Carolina from the view from the Nantahala National Forest overlook on my drive back from a client visit and training in Charlotte, NC, yesterday. #marionspearskarr #drivetimeislearningtime #inflowexecutives #accomplishmentculture