What types of services do you need during a business trip?

In order to be efficient and productive while traveling on business, you need the right services. Especially with regular business trips, many things have to be coordinated. This starts with booking flights and train travel, car rentals and hotel accommodation, but also includes complying with your company’s travel policies. For this reason it is key to implement a travel management system that enables seamless travel experiences for you and your colleagues.

In this article, we highlight which services are absolutely essential to efficiently plan and manage your business trip, and how you can easily highlight and organize these offers with a travel management system.

Accommodation services 

Booking hotels for business trips is an art in itself! There are several factors that are important to keep in mind to keep your travelers happy and safe. Reservations can be made quickly and easily, whether through hotel booking systems or reservation systems.

First you need to establish the purpose of the business trip. Is it about visiting customers or suppliers? Do you want to attend an official event or trade fair? Is it a stopover on a multi-destination business trip? Further education and training and seminars are often a reason for a business trip, since educational and training events often take place outside of the business premises.

In many cases it may be worth booking classic hotel accommodations. Many business travelers are often on the road for work for several days or even weeks at a time. After a while, however, hotel rooms can feel a bit anonymous. Many long for the comfort of their own homes when traveling. And so it makes perfect sense to think about shared accommodation. Especially if the planned stay lasts several days.

When booking hotels, it is very important to have a travel policy for reference. Ideally, this should be set in advance by your company. It is also recommended to automate your travel policy using a platform like GetGoing. In this way, employees can easily use the central booking system to search for suitable hotels that are in line with the policy.

When choosing a suitable hotel, comfortable extras should not be missing. A good breakfast with a varied selection ensures a good start to the day. And your company’s frequent travelers will definitely be happy if a sauna or gym can be found in the hotel. ​​You will also want to be sure there is a desk in the room or in common areas, as well as reliable Wi-Fi should you need to work after meetings. Find more helpful tips on what business travelers expect from a hotel stay.

Hotel amenities make all the difference when it comes to the comfort and satisfaction of your business travelers. If you use a hotel booking system or a travel platform like GetGoing, you can specifically filter your searches to search for specific criteria.

Transportation services

Even if the trend is towards sustainable travel by train or car, air travel is sometimes unavoidable, especially if the destination is abroad or trips lasting several days are planned.

Air travel

Many airlines offer so-called flight miles or loyalty programs to retain customers over the long term. If you are often on the road, it is definitely worth collecting them. If you have accumulated enough miles, you can, for example, book free upgrades to First or Business Class, or exchange the miles for awards.

With certain credit cards, such as American Express, bonus points from the card program can also be exchanged for air miles with various airlines. Here it is worth spending some time to take a closer look at the airline miles program of the desired airline.

Whether you book your business trip yourself or have it booked for you, it makes sense to store all your travel preferences in one place so nothing is forgotten during the booking process. For example, do you prefer to sit in the aisle or by the window? And what kind of meal would you like to be served? Vegetarian, kosher, gluten free?

If all this information is stored in one central accessible place, one can avoid misunderstandings when booking. Travel booking platforms like GetGoing allow you to save preferences directly in your profile so that everyone responsible for booking can easily and quickly access the traveler’s preferences. Get more tips for traveling on business by airplane.

When you arrive at the airport, you should think about transportation to and from the airport beforehand. This can be solved by taxi or public transport, or you might opt for a rental car.

Rental car

In addition to the freedom of movement during a business trip, rental cars offer other important advantages. Car rental companies often offer special packages, discounts, or loyalty programs for business travelers that further reduce rental costs.

This is where GetGoing car rental makes your life easier. You can sort by cheapest car rental or by reviews. You’ll also see if your preferred choice is compliant with your company’s travel policy, so you can make an informed decision. Filter by vehicle type, car rental, manual or automatic transmission, mileage, fuel type and price.

Train travel

Train travel is also an increasingly popular alternative to air travel. Here you will find the top 10 train routes for business trips. In terms of distance, waiting and travel time, train journeys are much more efficient and faster. There is no need to wait at airports and worry about transportation to and from the airport. And you can work effortlessly on the train, often with a good WiFi connection.

Travel tracking to keep an eye on travel spend

Without a travel management system, it may seem difficult to keep track of all your travel plans. But instead of signing up for dozens of different services, it’s worth choosing an option where everything can be done in one place. GetGoing stores your flight, train, rental car and hotel reservations in one place and makes sure you don’t miss a thing.

Leisure and wellness services

Especially on business trips it is important, but at the same time challenging, to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Sometimes it is difficult to get up and work out after a long day and evening of meetings and corporate dinners. But exercise is a great way to reduce stress. Use the fitness room in your hotel, go jogging, do yoga or find a gym in your area where you can let off steam for a few hours. Brain power is also boosted by regular exercise. So it’s a win-win.

Plan your business travel appointments in advance and make sure you have enough free time to relax, enjoy the nice weather, or do some exercise. When looking for suitable accommodation, you should make sure that it has exactly the amenities that are important to you. For example a fitness room or a swimming pool.

It is also important on business trips that you can switch off from time to time. Create free space. Relax and take in the last rays of the day, go swimming or walking, jog in the fresh air. If our bodies are consistently exposed to stress hormones, the immune system is suppressed and you can no longer defend yourself well against pathogens. Chronically stressed people actually get sick faster!

More and more business travelers are combining “business” and “leisure” – so-called bleisure trips. After completing all business appointments on your trip, why not stay a few more days to explore, relax, or visit friends and family? This way you make the most of your trip and return to the office rejuvenated.

Essential services for a successful business trip 

As you can see, business travel is all about good planning and the use of efficient and effective services. With the right service offerings, you can significantly improve the productivity and travel experience of your employees.