Travel Management Consulting
Some companies have never organised their business travel: trips are booked by whoever has time, on whatever card is to hand. Others have a travel program that has stopped working. We help both, and the work is different for each.
Where is your company starting from?
Starting from scratch
Your team has started to travel, but nobody has set anything up. No rules, no single way to book, nobody keeping track of what it costs. Often a startup or a young company.
A program already running
There is a travel manager, a booking tool or a TMC (travel management company) in place, but costs have drifted, a contract is up for renewal, or a merger has left two programs side by side.
Setting up business travel for the first time.
No jargon and no big systems. Travel is often one of a young company's larger costs, and it grows quietly. A few simple decisions made early save money and time from the start, and they are much easier to make now than later.
Why do it now
Without one way to book, the same trip gets bought five different ways at five different prices. Nobody notices until the total is large.
Founders and assistants lose hours searching for flights, fixing changes and chasing receipts. That time is worth more than the tickets.
If a flight is cancelled or something happens in a city, the company should know who is there and how to reach them. Most only think about it afterwards.
Agreeing simple rules with ten people who travel is quick. Changing how a hundred people book, once everyone has their own way, is slow and unpopular.
What you end up with
One person in charge
Someone on the team who owns travel, knows the rules and knows where to look. Usually an existing person, as part of their job.
A one-page set of rules
Which class to fly, how much to spend on a hotel, how far ahead to book. Short enough that people actually read it.
One way to book
A single booking tool or agency that fits your size, so every trip is in one place.
A simple sign-off
Who approves a trip before money is spent, in a step that takes seconds rather than a chain of emails.
A monthly view of the spend
What was spent, on what and by whom, on one page that founders and finance can read.
Room to grow
Sized for the company you are now: no long contracts and no systems you will not use. When the company grows, the setup grows with it.
Reviewing a travel program that has stopped working.
Here the question is not how to start, but what to keep, what to renegotiate and what to replace. A contract renewal, a merger or a new finance lead is often the moment to look.
Fees nobody can explain
The TMC invoice has grown, and nobody can say which service fees, transaction fees or supplier arrangements make up the total.
A policy people work around
Rules exist, but bookings go outside them and approvals get waved through, because the process is slower than the workaround.
The spend is invisible
Finance reports a total. It cannot show which suppliers, which routes, which trips fell outside policy, or what any of it should have cost.
What the engagement covers.
Structured booking processes, approval routes, and clear ownership of the program.
Evaluate and tender travel management companies, then manage the onboarding.
Rules that hold the balance between cost control, traveller wellbeing and compliance.
Remove the manual steps between a booking request and a booked trip.
Turn booking data into decisions about suppliers, routes and policy.
Coordinate high-volume travel for conferences, meetings and company events.
What a company has at the end that it did not have before.
One person accountable for the program, with a documented process behind them rather than personal memory.
Spend broken down by supplier, route and policy compliance, in a report somebody will actually read.
An approval path that runs without chasing, so bookings stop waiting in somebody's inbox.
We take no supplier commission. Advice to change a hotel program is worth exactly as much to us as advice to keep it.
Four steps, each with something on paper at the end.
Introductory call
Thirty minutes, free. It ends with a straight answer on whether the work is worth doing.
Review
Starting from scratch, this is short: how trips are booked today and what travel is coming. For a running program it covers booking and expense data, the policy, supplier and TMC contracts, and conversations with the people who book and approve. Either way the result is a written diagnosis with priorities.
Build
The changes the review called for: policy, TMC selection or tender, approval workflow, reporting. Scoped and agreed before it starts.
Handover
A named owner, a documented process and a report they can run without us. The program should not depend on an outside consultant to keep working.
Agreed in advance, never tied to suppliers.
The review is quoted as one fixed fee before it starts, based on the size of the program.
Once the review shows what is needed, the build is quoted as a defined project. Nothing is open-ended.
We take no commission from airlines, hotels, TMCs or booking tools. The only party paying for the advice is the company receiving it.
What companies usually ask first.
We are a small startup. Is it too early for this?
Usually it is the best moment. Setting up a few simple rules for a small team is a short piece of work. Untangling the habits of a large one is a long one.
What is travel management consulting?
Independent advice on how a company organises, buys and controls business travel: who owns it, which rules apply, which suppliers and booking channels it uses, and how the spend is reported.
How is a consultant different from a TMC?
A TMC books the trips and is usually paid per transaction or through supplier arrangements. A consultant books nothing. The job is to design the program and, where needed, choose the TMC and hold it to account.
We already have a TMC. Is there still a point?
Often, yes. Most reviews start because an existing program has drifted: fees nobody can explain, policy that is not applied, reports nobody reads. A review says what to keep, what to renegotiate and what to replace.
Do we need a travel manager afterwards?
Not necessarily. Many companies do not have the volume for a full-time role. The handover is built so that an existing person, often an EA or office manager, can own the program as part of their job.
What do you need from us to start?
Starting from scratch: a rough idea of who travels, where and how often. With a program already running: twelve months of booking and expense data, the current policy, and access to the people who book and approve travel. If the data is a mess, that is a finding, not an obstacle.
Before the call.
- What Does a Travel Management Consultant Do?
- When Does a Company Need Travel Management Consulting?
- How to Choose a Travel Management Company (TMC)
- Travel Program Audit: 10 Checks Every Company Can Run
- Corporate Travel Coordinator: The Role Inside a Company
- What Is Travel Coordination? The Complete Guide
Find out what your company's travel needs
The introductory call takes thirty minutes and costs nothing. Whether you are starting from scratch or fixing a program, it ends with a straight answer on whether the work is worth doing.