Definition And Method Of Travel Management

　　 travel management It means that enterprises use information technology to monitor the whole process of travel activities so as to achieve control. Travel cost Purpose. The traditional travel management mode has huge waste and overcoming management loopholes, and modern travel management can provide a perfect, fast, convenient and economical travel service for enterprises, saving costs for enterprises, reducing the burden of executives and financial personnel, providing travel management reports for business management to facilitate the control of travel expenses and enhance the management level of the whole enterprise.

China Corporate travel Management status quo

At present, most Chinese enterprises lack the sense of travel management. The reimbursement process of their travel expenses is complex and cumbersome. The workload of financial personnel is huge, and the travel cost control of travel personnel is weak, and the management efficiency is low.

1. enterprise management lacks the sense of travel management.

Mergers and acquisitions, business negotiations, marketing, and procurement have brought too much energy to the management of Chinese enterprises. They will never take the time to consider how many people have gone bad or where they have been in the past year, and what the total amount of travel expenses is. Management believes that these things should be managed by business executives or financial personnel. In fact, business executives can get high rebates from hotel reservations and air tickets. Financial staff lack the enthusiasm to manage travel expenses in the view of more or less things, so there are not many Chinese enterprises applying travel management. According to the report of Corporate Travel Management and Travel Practices in China, only 5% of the private enterprises interviewed were using travel management services, while the proportion of state-owned enterprises was less than 5%.

2. lack of management control for travel expenses.

Chinese enterprises are usually responsible for the expenses of travel expenses by administrative, financial, personnel and other departments. Such professionals can get high rebates when ordering air tickets and hotels for their business, and earn extra money by making false payment of invoices or buying fake invoices while they are staying in hotels. On the other hand, some large and medium-sized enterprises in China are very large in the domestic stalls. The staff of the company have to sit on several planes every year, which can be regarded as the major customers of the airline standards. However, no one ever thought of negotiating with the airline company to get a certain discount. The same is true of hotel fees: because all staff members of the company have the right to choose their preferred hotels, so that the number of days that the employees stay in a particular hotel can not reach a certain number, it is very difficult to sign a long-term contract with a hotel to get a better price. Due to the lack of effective monitoring, the authenticity and legality of bills related to travel activities are difficult to discriminate, which has increased the management cost and seriously affected the profits of enterprises.

3. the reimbursement process is complex and data can not be used for management.

According to the report of Corporate Travel Management and Travel Practices in China, among the 112 enterprises interviewed, 1/4 enterprises only used manual process and paper form to process travel applications and approval, and another 56% used paper forms and e-mail to process applications and approval. 78% of the surveyed enterprises use manual processes and paper forms to make travel expense reports. In view of this, Chinese enterprises often use traditional methods to manage travel expenses.

Because of the complexity of the traditional travel management process and the fact that the traveling personnel are forced to fill in all kinds of paper documents, it is easy to appear irregularities in the documents filling. It requires a lot of manpower and material resources to judge their legitimacy and rationality. The approval of the leaders may be delayed due to their business trip, thus affecting the implementation of the business. Due to the large number of tickets related to all kinds of business trips, the work of binding, statistics and summarization is very heavy, and the work efficiency is low. It is also very prone to human errors, resulting in unnecessary losses. Important information is recorded on the paper receipts that record the business process of an enterprise. The analysis of these information can provide useful data for the company's annual operation of aircraft, trains and hotels, the distribution of travel time and the time of travel. However, due to the fact that it is a paper medium, it is very inconvenient for analysis and statistics, and it is difficult to form a standardized and valuable travel management report.

4. cash is the most important travel payment mode.

In China, cash is the main mode of travel payment, which is used for cash advance and expense reimbursement. This pattern applies to all types of companies, including multinational corporations. Of the 112 companies interviewed, 52% of the respondents, 86% of the private enterprises and 91% of the state-owned enterprises, indicated that cash advance payments were made and cash reimbursement was paid in cash. This contrasted sharply with the rest of the world's companies relying on corporate credit cards as the main payment method.

Suggestions for implementing modern travel management

　 1., establish a set of corporate culture and humanized travel policy.

The formulation of enterprise travel policy reflects the specific principles of travel expenses, including travel arrangement, payment method, travel expenses and handling procedures. In the travel policy, the following clauses should be included: staff travel approval, travel guide, transportation choice, air ticket and hotel reservation system selection, accommodation standards, staff safety and insurance terms, family expenses terms, credit card and cash terms, travel service terms, telephone and taxi fee terms, reimbursement procedure terms, optional travel booking system, agreement hotel list, agreement airline list, etc., and travel policy terms should be refined as far as possible so as to facilitate embedded travel booking system, so as to ensure good execution effect. When making travel policy, we should also pay attention to the following issues:

(1) the formulation of travel policy should be based on the analysis of previous travel expenses. By analyzing the past travel expenses and finding out regular travel behaviors, such as hotels frequently taken, frequent flights and frequent business trips, we can see which airline can become a designated airline to get the lowest airline discount, which city has the most business trips, which is the most convenient and low cost, which hotel can become an agreement hotel to get the best price.

(2) a balance between cost saving and employee satisfaction is needed in the formulation of travel policy. If we control the cost blindly, we will hurt the enthusiasm of the staff, affect the overall image of the enterprise, and transmit the information of the shortage of funds to the outside world. This will bring negative effects on the operation of the enterprises. If we cater to the staff, we will greatly increase the travel costs and reduce the profits, which will eventually affect the long-term development of the enterprises. Therefore, when formulating a travel policy, we should fully listen to the opinions of all sides of the business, especially listen to the voice of frequent travelling employees, and let financial personnel participate in the formulation of travel policies together with travel managers. For example, for the sake of saving cost, the enterprise may stipulate that an employee in a certain position must travel to a hard sleeper for more than 12 hours' journey, and the discount ticket may only cost one to two hundred yuan more than the train fare. Employees tend to travel by air, so that they can not only get a good rest, but also improve their work efficiency. However, the financial staff will think that the cost is increased and the financial efficiency is reduced. In view of this contradiction, the following clauses can be added to the travel policy: in the choice of transport, if the airline ticket discount is up to a certain standard, it can choose to travel by plane.

In addition, in the travel policy, you can add the following terms: strict travel approval. If the business can be resolved by telephone or video and e-mail, it will not be allowed to go on business. In the case of the time of travel, it is necessary to book tickets and hotels for a more favorable discount several days in advance. These provisions can not only save unnecessary expenses, but also will not be strongly resisted by business travelers.

(3) the formulation of travel policy should embody the corporate culture. If the enterprise emphasizes the people-oriented, higher and lower level equality of corporate culture, attaches great importance to the feelings of employees, in terms of travel regulations, it should strive for equality, senior management and ordinary employees should not pay too much treatment; if the enterprise emphasizes the right level of corporate culture, then in the formulation of travel policy should be for different levels of staff to develop different travel standards, to reflect the concept of hierarchy.

(4) be meticulous in formulating travel policy. Travel policy should strictly stipulate the details of travel expenses that can be reimbursed and the duties of a business traveler. For example, a business traveler must strictly enforce the travel and accommodation standards. He must complete the booking of air tickets and Hotels with the prescribed booking system within the prescribed time, and use the credit card to pay the related expenses and make the consumption details. He must reimburse the travel expenses according to the prescribed process and time limit, and not reimburse the consumption expenses which are not related to the company's business, and shall not convert official business space into economic space, so as to exchange tickets for fellow spouses. Many uncertain factors will be encountered in the bad journey. Safety travel guides should be listed in the formulation of travel policies. At the same time, insurance clauses should be listed to protect the rights and interests of business travelers.

(5) train the employees in the travel policy to ensure the smooth implementation of the travel policy. As an important public document, travel policy should be placed on the company's website to familiarise employees with it. In carrying out the travel policy, it is necessary to strengthen communication with employees, such as the introduction of the travel policy for new employees, and provide a forum within the company to discuss the relevant provisions of the policy, so as to enhance the staff's cognition and understanding of the company's travel system and consciously abide by it.

2. appoint a travel manager to determine the responsibilities of the travel manager.

It is very necessary to appoint a manager who specializes in travel affairs of an enterprise or enterprise group when the travel expenses of an enterprise or enterprise group reach a certain scale. Its responsibilities include:

(1) to participate in the formulation of travel policy and to inform staff about travel policy. Travel managers should cooperate with the needs of the development of business travel business, participate in the formulation of travel policies with financial staff and frequent travel staff, and make recommendations that are suitable for corporate culture and business needs. Once the travel policy is established, travel management teams led by travel managers need to use online publicity, training, and full communication with travel personnel to ensure that travel related personnel understand the policy.

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(2) acting as an intermediary between external business travel providers and internal business travel staff. The team led by a travel manager is obliged to communicate with each traveller so that they can know what resources they can make when arranging a trip. When the supplier listed in the travel policy changes, the travel department should inform the staff of the new supplier list in time, and update and increase the difference periodically.