The Business Travel Magazine Aug/Sept 2019

SMEs / Introduction
Big
IDEAS
Are the challenges that SMEs face really that different
to those encountered by larger companies? Catherine
Chetwynd explores the challenges and solutions at hand
Small and medium-sized enterprises
are often said to face a whole raft
of size-related challenges when it
comes to managing their business travel
needs, but in fact they are often contending
with many of the same issues faced
by larger companies but on a smaller
scale. Nevertheless, there are some
notable differences.
Although SMEs benefit from greater agility
and willingness to innovate, they also have
fewer people to dedicate to the task: the
person organising travel is often doing so in
addition to their day job and their expertise
might lie elsewhere. And while large
corporates have higher compliance to policy
and therefore greater ability to control costs,
smaller organisations are more likely to
undergo speedy growth and have sporadic
travel patterns that do not allow them to
negotiate airfares or hotel rates.
Reliable sources of advice include the ITM,
Business Travel Association (formerly the
GTMC) and the Advantage Travel Partnership,
the UK’s largest group of independent travel
agencies, whose aggregate business gives it
good negotiating clout.
Dedicated supplier products are also
available to SMEs. Millennium Hotels &
Resorts this year introduced Millennium for
Business, a digital platform where users can
manage travel, make itinerary-style bookings,
cater to individual needs and earn rewards.
It includes a Best Rate Promise, is integrated
with the MyMillennium rewards programme,
and gives bookers access to aggregated
insights and reporting.
Tricks of the trade
Also launched this year was TapTrip, a
business and expense app and website for
booking all elements of travel, allowing users
to see what they are spending and where,
and to customise travel policies.
TapTrip derives content from Skyscanner,
Booking.com, Goeuro, Uber and more, and
integrates with expense management
systems such as Xero. There is no contract,
with a charge per transaction. “Thanks to
centralised visibility, clients save on average
£1,200 per year,” says founder Neil Ruth.
Expense management tool Traveldoo is
available to SMEs through partner TMCs,
ensuring all expenditure is captured,
providing management information to
power negotiations.
“A lot of SMEs do not have a full understanding
of technology; they think it’s simple
because they use Expedia, but someone
needs to extract the information behind that
to do contract negotiations,” says UK Country
Manager for Traveldoo, Sam Cande.
Small companies often rely on consumer
booking sites before they switch to a
managed travel programme. “To manage
that change, it is important to meet
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