What key sections should you include?

Your travel policy should, at the very minimum, include the following categories:

General traveller guidelines

Flights

Hotels

Car rental

Rail and ground transportation

Duty of care

5a. FlightsImportantly here, is the criteria for airline class of service. These are usually dependent on how senior the member of staff is, and the length of the flight.Clear rules on preferred vendors will maximise benefit to the company and provide the best rates. Your TMC is likely to enrol the company on all relevant airline loyalty and frequent flyer programmes.Therefore your policy should say whether rewards gained can be claimed by the employee or whether they go to the company.

There should be clear guidance on ticketing. For example, is split ticketing allowed or should travellers use the same carrier? Should tickets be restricted or can they be unrestricted?

Specify the flight selection criteria such as the time window, the lowest fare on the day & the lowest logical fare within parameters

For insurance and/or risk management reasons, you may need to specify numbers of employees allowed per flight

What additional costs are allowed - for example: for extra baggage, seat allocation, priority boarding, airline lounges? What is the policy on upgrades? When can they be requested, and when are they allowed?

Does your company ban the use of certain airlines, and if so how is this communicated to the TMC and travellers, and how are records kept up to date?

5b. Hotels Just as with flights, it’s essential to have a clear policy on which grade of hotel is allowed for staff at each level. You will also need to explain what they are entitled to in extras during their stay.If you have negotiated a deal with a particular hotel chain, you should provide a clear policy on the necessity to stay at this chain where possible, even when the location isn’t ideal. Your TMC should negotiate a preferred hotel programme, but there may be times when a non-preferred hotel has to be used.Specify the hotel selection criteria. Which factors are key: the hotel programme, a preferred hotel chain, the hotel grade, or distance from the destination? Hotels are one of the main areas for travel spend leakage, the more a hotel programme is mandated the better the volumes can be tracked and provide a realistic base for future negotiations.

Your policy should include rules on:

The circumstances under which employees may rent a car
Preferred suppliers (preferably a maximum of two)
Car class eligibility • Refuelling: outlined as the extra charges incurred if a employee refuels
Insurance extras: are drivers covered on an ‘umbrella’ insurance programme or is it their individual responsibility?
Whether cars can be booked direct or always via your TMC?
Vendor privilege memberships • Countries where

5d. Rail and ground transportationThis section of your travel policy should refer to travel on trains, but also how employees should travel when in cities (e.g. taxis vs. buses) and options on using their own vehicles.

The priorities here are to clarify policy on:

The class of service travellers may use (whether on domestic or international travel)
Booking procedures
Seat reservations
Regional variations
Airport travel: the options for rail versus ground transport to and from airports
Taxi versus public transport usage
Personal car usage: to include mileage rates, insurance etc.

5e. Duty of care – safety and security of travellersThis section of your travel policy should refer to travel on trains, but also how employees should travel when in cities (e.g. taxis vs. buses) and options on using their own vehicles.

Communication with travellers:

Inform travellers of how they can access travel information whilst on the move (this could be through a travel app provided by your TMC, or through your intranet)
Share how you (as the employer) will communicate with the employee in the event of an emergency – case studies often help here to illustrate how situations will be managed
Remind travellers to keep their profile information up-to-date, so any communications are received efficiently

Traveller tracking: Ensure the traveller tracking system provided by your TMC allows you to identify where your travellers are at any timeEmphasise the importance of booking through your TMC; without booking data it makes tracking of travellers difficult and should emergencies arise, you will be unable to communicate swiftly with employeesHigh risk destinations:Classify which destinations are ‘high risk’ for your companyUtilise pre-trip reporting to identify travellers booked to high-risk destinationsImplement mandatory briefings for high-risk destinations, prior to travel (this will ensure travellers understand the risks involved and are able to react accordingly should difficultThere are many factors which present a risk in otherwise safe countries – work with your HR department to ensure you are advising on possible scenarios and how your company can support travellers. Other factors may include: ulnerability due to unfamiliarity with a new destination, fatigue when driving after a long flight, illness and crime. Additionally, some companies now include alcohol guidelines which prevent travellers from charging alcoholic drinks back to the business.