Managing last-minute travel is the biggest headache for travel managers in professional services firms. It is also the biggest factor preventing these organisations from reducing travel costs, which are typically the second-highest controllable item of expenditure.
Last-minute travel is often unavoidable. That doesn’t mean the negative effects are inevitable or that planning goes out of the window. A well-managed travel programme can mitigate the costs and even reduce the number of late bookings.
The issue was highlighted by research commissioned by Wings and carried out by the African Business Travel Association in a survey of 30 firms in the legal, audit, consulting, engineering and specialist services sectors.
The impact on travel costs is clear. Prices escalate as fare classes fill. A flight booked within a few days of travel could be up to 50% more expensive than the same flight booked two weeks ahead. Accommodation options will also be reduced, while the likelihood of complex routing increases.
All of this increases the pressure on travel teams. Last-minute bookings interrupt other work. If anything goes wrong and an important client meeting is missed or delayed it could damage the organisation’s reputation or result in lost business.
Last-minute travel is a fact of life for professional services firms. Audit deadlines shift, court dates are confirmed late, deals move quickly, and clients often require consultants to appear onsite at short notice.
A minority (30%) believe the problem is exacerbated by ‘disorganised travellers’, but the main drivers are urgent need (67%) or client demands (57%). If the causes are external, internal levers, such as stronger policy enforcement, are unlikely to have much effect.
The key to solving the problem is in better understanding the motivations of travellers. In professional services, non-compliance is not the result of defiance but of necessity. Senior staff, the group most likely to breach policy, are also those most likely to be called to respond to the pressures of client-driven travel. Dealing with the needs of these high-touch travellers is the second-biggest challenge identified by the survey.
Just because last-minute travel is unavoidable doesn’t mean the problems it raises are unsolvable. Here are some possible mitigations.
- Map recurring patterns – court cycles, audit dates and seasonal surges in activity can be analysed monitored and planned for;
- Predictive analytics add a further dimension to smart planning, filling in the blanks left by historic data. Predictive tools can help you anticipate travel peaks based on real-time data and secure inventory earlier;
- Automate approvals – booking travel is one element in a bigger workflow. Automation can eliminate delays caused by the pre-trip approval process, reducing stress and frustration for the booker and enhancing policy controls;
- Pre-approve travel windows based on predictable or recurring needs. Even if dates are uncertain and could shift, pre-approval reduces the lag caused by internal processes when travel arrangements need to be rapid;
- Negotiate flexibility – travel managers should have discretion to approve some travel, particularly on high-demand routes where case-by-case approvals might jeopardise late bookings;
- Segment travellers – analysis of the behaviour of frequent travellers should identify who books late and why. It may enable you to understand where last-minute travel is a true necessity and when urgency may simply be a euphemism for poor planning.
Tackling last-minute travel should be a priority for professional services firms keen to control travel costs, but it requires more than a tougher travel policy. Eradicating manual processes and adopting booking, analytics and reporting tools as part of an integrated technology strategy are important steps. Consolidating suppliers and monitoring compliance will also contribute to lower costs.
The aim should be not to eradicate last-minute travel but to minimise its impact, and prevent it causing chaos, stress and increased business risk.
