The 5 Best Travel Management Companies | Roomex

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Are you tired of the hassle that comes with planning a business trip? From booking flights and hotels to managing expenses and ensuring compliance with travel policies, corporate travel management can be a complex and time-consuming process. That’s where corporate travel management companies come in. These specialised companies offer a range of services designed to streamline business travel management and make the process more efficient and cost-effective.

In this article, we’ll be focusing on comparing the top 5 business travel management companies that can help you to optimise your corporate travel management processes. We’ll explore what business travel management companies are, why they are essential for businesses of all sizes, and what factors to consider when choosing the best partner for your needs. So, whether you’re a small business owner or part of a large corporation, join us as we dive into the world of corporate travel management and discover the best companies to help you make the most out of your business trips.

What is a business travel management company?

A business travel management company, also known as a corporate travel management company, provides specialised travel services to businesses of all sizes. These companies specialise in managing every aspect of business travel, which can range from booking flights and hotels to managing expenses and ensuring compliance with travel policies.

Business travel management companies are essential for businesses that frequently send employees on business trips. These companies work to optimise travel management processes and make the process more efficient and cost-effective. They leverage their expertise, industry connections, and technology solutions to help businesses save money, reduce travel-related risks, and improve employee satisfaction.

Whether you’re a small business owner or part of a large corporation, partnering with a business travel management company can help you streamline your corporate travel management processes and achieve your travel-related goals. By outsourcing travel management to these specialised companies, businesses can focus on their core operations while leaving the travel management to the experts.

Why businesses should use a corporate travel service.

Businesses that frequently send employees on business trips can benefit greatly from using a corporate travel service to manage their travel arrangements. There are several reasons why businesses should be using a corporate travel service to manage their employees’ travel. Here are some of the most significant benefits: 

1. Cost savings: One of the key benefits of using a corporate travel service is the ability to save money on travel expenses. These service providers have access to negotiated rates for flights, hotels, and other travel-related expenses, which can result in significant cost savings for businesses.
2. Managing expenses: Using a corporate travel service can also help businesses manage their travel expenses more efficiently. Travel expense management can be a time-consuming and complex process that involves tracking and reconciling multiple receipts and invoices. Corporate travel service providers can help automate this process, making it faster and more accurate. This can help reduce errors and delays in the reimbursement process, which can ultimately improve employee satisfaction.
3. Time savings: Planning and managing travel can be a time-consuming process, especially for businesses that have employees travelling frequently. A corporate travel service can centralise all the elements of corporate travel that a travel manager needs and show you the best possible options. This means less time spent browsing various hotel sites looking for the best rates. Corporate travel platforms also offer services which help to manage itineraries and handle travel expenses, further cutting down on administrative time.
4. Duty of care: Businesses have a duty of care to ensure the safety and well-being of their employees when they’re travelling for work. A corporate travel service can provide travel managers the tools to look after their employees for example, Roomex provides a workforce tracker so travel managers can know where exactly all their on-the-road employees are at any one time.
5. Compliance: Corporate travel services can help businesses ensure compliance with their company travel policy. Many businesses have specific policies in place to govern how travel expenses are managed and reimbursed. By working with a corporate travel service, businesses can ensure that these policies are enforced consistently across all employees and trips, reducing the risk of compliance-related issues.

Overall, using a corporate travel service can help businesses save time and money, manage travel expenses more efficiently, ensure the safety and well-being of their employees, and maintain compliance with travel policies and regulations. It’s a smart investment for any businesses that want to optimise their travel management processes.

What to consider when choosing the best business travel management company?

When choosing a business travel management company, there are several factors to consider to ensure that you select the best fit for your business needs. Here are some key considerations:

1. Reputation: Look for providers with a strong reputation for delivering high-quality service and customer satisfaction. Check online reviews and ratings from other businesses to get an idea of how each provider performs.
2. Expertise and experience: Consider the level of experience each provider has in the industry. Look for providers with a proven track record of delivering effective solutions for businesses of a similar size and industry. They should have a deep understanding of the travel landscape and be able to provide expert guidance on travel policies, cost savings, pricing forecasts, and compliance.
3. Technology solutions: Evaluate the travel management software and technology used by each provider. The best corporate travel management software should be easy to use, offer seamless booking and travel management features, and provide comprehensive corporate travel reporting.
4. Service level agreements (SLAs): Ensure the company provides clear service level agreements outlining their response times, customer support availability, and issue resolution processes. The SLAs should align with your business needs and travel policies.
5. Vendor relationships: The company should have established relationships with major hotel chains and travel vendors to negotiate discounted rates and ensure quality service for your employees.
6. Priority support: Check the level of support which the company provides to handle emergencies or changes in travel plans, and ensure the support is accessible to your employees, no matter where they are in the world.
7. Cost structure: Ask about the company’s pricing model, including any hidden fees or markups. Ensure the cost structure is transparent and aligns with your business’s budget and travel policy.
8. Corporate travel reporting: Look for providers that offer robust corporate travel reporting capabilities, which provide businesses with detailed insights into their travel expenses and patterns. This information can help businesses make more informed decisions about their travel policy and identify opportunities for cost savings.

By considering these factors, you can find a business travel management company that meets your needs. A reliable and efficient travel management provider can help businesses streamline their corporate travel processes, save money, and provide a better travel experience for their employees.

Top corporate travel management companies

The best travel management company for your business will depend on your company’s individual needs and goals. This list includes five of the most popular travel management companies around. We highlight their strengths and weaknesses, which should make it easier when choosing the best option for you. Since it's difficult to get a birds eye view of the market -we analysed for you.

Roomex

Roomex is tailored for those businesses with a highly mobile workforce that need to travel domestically to fulfill their duties. This business travel solution is currently operating in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Germany, making it a useful solution for businesses operating across Europe. Roomex is not a new name in the workforce travel space and has built up a strong reputation for delivering a high-quality service. Boasting a Net Promoter Score of 52 (20 points higher than the industry average), a Capterra score of 4.7, and a Google review score of 4.2, it’s clear that Roomex customers are highly satisfied with Roomex as their corporate travel management company.

Access to large accommodation

This high customer satisfaction score comes as no surprise when you consider Roomex’s expertise in the industry. As the leading provider of workforce travel accommodation Roomex have shown a deep understanding of the business travel space with their quarterly Forward Pricing Report publication which provides a quarterly pricing forecast. Alongside this expertise, Roomex’s experience has enabled them to build a strong network of hotels across their service areas and now boast thousands of exclusively negotiated rates, which can’t be found elsewhere. This network of over 1.2 million hotels, pulled in from 35 sources including Premier Inn, Booking.com, Travelodge, and many more, places Roomex as the largest provider of workforce ready accommodation available.

Ease of booking

Roomex offers all of their customers a custom platform that makes accommodation booking easy. Their powerful accommodation search tool enables customers to search for the perfect accommodation from Roomex’s large hotel network. Custom workforce filters allow customers to further narrow their searches by looking for specific features such as secured parking, 24 hour reception or free cancellation. A hotel booking can be made in as few as seven clicks, making it simple to book your favourite hotel. Their partnership with Trainline also means that adding a train journey to one of your bookings is no hassle at all, and the booking remains part of your consolidated invoice. For companies that have a need for large group or event space booking, Roomex makes this easy too. Their dedicated Projects & Meetings team sources and negotiates the best rates for both group stays and event spaces.

Reporting & analytics

Combined with their powerful accommodation search tool is Roomex’s industry leading analytics software, which provides its customers visibility into, and control over the key cost drivers behind their workforce travel spend through real-time data. Customers also gain insight into policy compliance and spend distribution.

Prepaid cards

Another corporate travel solution which Roomex offers their customers is RoomexPay. This business expense management solution eliminates out-of-pocket spend for travellers and gives both travel managers and finance directors full visibility and control of all in-trip spend. By providing travellers with a RoomexPay virtual card, travellers will never be left out-of-pocket or waiting for reimbursement. This also means there is no need for the finance team to chase receipts and reconcile expenses at the end of the month.

Overall, Roomex presents a fantastic option for both SMEs and large Enterprise customers looking to consolidate their travel and expense management. Their free sign-up and contractless approach makes it easy for those in search of a business travel solution to get started with no hassle.

Capterra rating: 4.7 / 5 stars, based on 69 reviews

Languages supported: English, German

HRS

HRS offers similar features to Roomex and is the only other business travel management company that can compete with it in terms of rates. With locations around the globe, HRS is an international company however, their offering remains limited to hotel accommodation.

The HRS accommodation network only has 300,000 hotels - compared with Roomex’s offering of over 1.2 million - meaning if you opt for HRS your choice is definitely more limited.

In terms of pricing, HRS is a free platform to use. Any booking fees are passed on to the hotels themselves for all overnight stays, so the price you see on the HRS platform is the price you will pay!

Capterra rating: NA

Languages supported: English, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese (Simplified)

TravelPerk

Travelperk is an all-in-one corporate travel management company which allows its customers to book flights, hotels, cars, and trains all on the one platform. Operating around the world, TravelPerk boasts the world’s largest travel inventory however, this is not all workforce ready accommodation which may still see you left searching for the perfect accommodation within the platform.

TravelPerk’s offerings include accommodation, flight, and train booking, as well as car rental with many additional features. However, to avail of the majority of these features you must be on a paid plan. Currently TravelPerk has 4 platform offerings including a ‘Starter’ plan which has no monthly cost but a 5% charge per booking after your first 5 bookings each month, a ‘Premium’ plan at £99 per month + 3% per booking, a ‘Pro’ plan at £299 per month + 3% per booking, and finally an ‘Enterprise’ plan for those who have larger travel needs or bespoke requirements.

TravelPerk is a great option for companies who require a business travel solution that caters to international travel. For those companies whose travel requirements see them travelling domestically for the majority of their travel, it may be better to look at other, free or cheaper corporate travel management solutions that more accurately cater to their needs.

Capterra rating: 4.8 / 5 stars based on 382 reviews

Languages supported: English, German, Spanish, French

Navan (formerly TripActions)

Navan is a business travel management company used by corporations to find competitive rates, ensure travel policy adherence, and control company spending with automated reconciliation solutions. Based in the United States, this business travel solution provides travel management to enterprise companies.

Navan offers a similar set of features to Roomex and HRS, with the main differentiation between the three being that Navan also offers a flight booking service. Navan also makes use of AI and smart data to create customised search options, which may be useful for large companies that book lots of flights for its employees. It also makes use of a rewards-based system and would be useful to businesses that make use of airline loyalty programmes.

For companies that are looking for international business travel options you are best weighing up your options between Navan and TravelPerk. Once again, for companies who see the majority of their corporate travel occur domestically you are better looking at business travel management companies like Roomex which will better cater to your needs.

Capterra rating: 4.7 / 5 stars based on 170 reviews

Languages supported: English, German, French

Booking.com Business

Booking.com Business is a corporate travel solution that offers a more basic service to use every now and then for businesses looking for one off accommodation bookings.

Most people are familiar with Booking.com, which has a huge database of over 29 million hotels, home, apartments, and B&Bs, so it offers an easy-to-use familiar interface. One of the biggest downsides is that you can’t input any corporate rates which you have negotiated with your favourite hotels.

Organisations booking with Booking.com Business aren’t likely to save huge amounts of money and consolidated invoices aren’t available. But if your business only books one hotel stay per month and hasn’t negotiated any special rates, you won’t need much more than this. And if your booking levels begin to increase, you’ll see it in the reports so you’ll know when it’s time to move on to a more advanced business travel management company.

Capterra rating: NA

Languages supported: English, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, German, Polish, French, Portuguese

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are many corporate travel providers offering a variety of corporate travel services, which can make it difficult to choose the right one for your business. When evaluating different travel management solutions it is crucial to consider what your exact requirements are for your own company’s business travel.

Roomex, HRS, TravelPerk, Navan, and Booking.com Business, each have their own unique strengths and features. Whether you’re looking for a comprehensive travel management solution or simply want to streamline your travel booking and expense management processes, there is a provider out there for you.

Ultimately, choosing the right business travel management company can help your business save money, manage travel expenses more efficiently, and provide a better travel experience for your employees. By outsourcing travel management to a specialised provider, you can focus on your core operations while leaving the travel arrangements to the experts. With the right travel management solution in place, your business can thrive, even in the face of the many challenges of corporate travel.