How to Reduce Business Travel Expenses

With the tight economy, businesses are looking for economical ways to reduce expenses.  Travel expenses take a huge chunk out of company budgets.  By minimizing travel expenses, you can save a substantial amount of money for your company.

These helpful tips will keep business travel expenses to a minimum.

 Use the most economical forms of transportation. If you are flying, fly coach instead of first class (http://www.cheaptickets.com/ or http://www.orbitz.com/). If you are traveling by car, carpool with other employees or take public transportation.  Share a cab or use a free shuttle service when you are travelling between airports and hotels.

  Don’t pick the most expensive lodgings.  Opt for motels instead of hotels.  Look for combined discount lodging and airfare deals (http://www.expedia.com/ or http://www.travelocity.com/) Take advantage of the free continental breakfast to cut back on food expenses. 

 Hold webinars and teleconferences (http://www.gotomeeting.com/ and http://www.webex.com/).  You will save both your employees and clients money as well.  Webinars and teleconferences make it easy for companies to reduce costs on travel expenses and you can hold them from any location (since you only need a phone and access to the Internet).

 Plan accordingly.  If you have clients that live in the same city or area, schedule appointments with them on the same day.  With the price of gas, this makes sense and will save you a lot of money and time.

 Decide whether long distance clients are worth the time and money.  If you have clients located in remote locations and it’s costing you a lot of money, think carefully about your return on investment (ROI). It may be more lucrative to service more local clients who don’t require you to travel.