How to create effective business travel reports
Compiling exhaustive expense reports, missing receipts, incomplete invoices - you need a seamless, hassle-free reporting solution. That’s why Corporate Traveler wrote this guide on how to optimize your business travel reporting.
This guide includes:
- Explore what business travel reporting is.
- Learn what you should include in your business travel report.
- Find key benefits of using effective business travel reporting.
- Identify common challenges you may run into in business travel reporting.
- Adopt steps for automating your business travel reporting.
- Find out how to measure the success of your ongoing reporting.
- Leverage best practices for your business travel reporting.
- Check out other resources that may benefit your business.
Travel reporting isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Reports come in a wide array of forms, each crafted uniquely to help you level up your corporate travel program. To get the most effective, valuable analytic data, you need a holistic view of your entire travel program - plus a range of supporting expense reports, which need to be easily accessible to you through integrated digital tools. A smarter corporate travel expense reporting platform can make those needs a reality.
What is business travel reporting?
Smart business travel reporting is more than expense tracking and tallying receipts for processing. A lot more.
Effective travel reporting requires visibility, flexibility, and real-time transparency. All your business trip expenses should be reported to one location, so they can be tracked accurately and used to identify wasted travel spend.
Simply put, business travel reporting - if done effectively - is your gateway to smarter travel routes, more savings on flights/hotels/cars, and even improving traveler wellness and sustainability as you grow your business.
What to include in a business travel report
Itinerary and traveler information
Think of this business travel report as your travel program’s DNA - dates, vendors, expense categories, and totals. Eliquent Life Sciences nailed it by using an all-in-one platform for employees and contractors, making it look effortless.
Travel and expense reporting
Updating reports should be a breeze. Make sure you have processes in place to gather receipts and categorize incoming expenses. With the right business travel report templates, you'll be able to spot money-saving opportunities and make data-driven decisions like a pro!
Policy compliance reporting
Keeping everyone on the same page with corporate travel policies is key. These reports shine a light on any deviations, helping you keep your travel program - and travelers - on track.
Carbon and sustainability reporting
Got sustainability on your radar? Travel reporting tracks your travel carbon footprint alongside your environmental efforts. Pest management company Pelsis Group used reporting tools to track their carbon offsets and flight travel.
Key benefits of effective business travel reporting
If you’ve booked your travel using multiple websites, hunting for travel data can feel like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Consolidate all your data into a single business travel report format with Corporate Traveler and watch the magic happen:
Common challenges with business travel reporting
Unmanaged Travel Challenges
- Fragmented or siloed travel data across multiple, disconnected systems.
- Time-consuming manual reporting processes.
- High potential for human errors in reporting.
- Increased duty of care risks if travelers can’t be located during last-minute changes.
- Data overload when surges of incoming data are coming from several or dozens of sources at once.
- Difficulty picking the right KPIs to focus on.
- Additional challenges in implementing new training.
- Getting all of your stakeholders to buy into a system that doesn’t function efficiently or smoothly.
Steps to automate business travel reporting
Imagine having all your travel data neatly organized on a single dashboard - no more logging into different platforms to piece together the puzzle.
A corporate travel management platform like Melon becomes a window into your corporate travel program's performance, offering high-level visibility and control of your travel data, including seamless corporate travel reporting tools.
Review and assess data accuracy
Access to travel insights allows you to target better booking, supplier, or channel leakage. You'll have a clearer understanding of your spending patterns and be able to point out areas for improvement and cost reduction.
Measure your progress and success against industry standards and personal targets. This works not only for financial metrics, but also for sustainability goals. Consolidated reporting makes it easier to track carbon emissions and the impact of your sustainability efforts.
Maintain accurate data
Data is the backbone of a well-oiled travel program, but without clean data, it weakens your organization's ability to make quick, confident decisions.
It's not the traveler who typically creates "dirty data." The tools and processes surrounding booking, like your online booking tool, can be the problem, too. Choosing a TMC with strong data governance practices makes sure that the data you receive is comprehensive, clean, and reliable.
Boost reporting efficiency
Customized business travel expense reporting offers in-depth, meaningful insights from travel data. Off-the-shelf reports might not line up with your unique business needs. Technology like integrated travel management platforms and mobile apps can be a great way for people across your company to get the trip data they need in just a few clicks.
Tailored reporting dashboards ensure that you can focus on the specific areas that matter most to your corporate travel program - regardless of whether it's travel spend or traveler behavior. Get ready to see where your investment is yielding the most returns and where processes could be improved.
Use real-time reports to improve travel management
In today's fast-paced business environment, instant data is crucial. Knowing where your travelers are at any given moment and having the ability to track spending against travel budgets in real-time keeps you in control. This is especially important for remote, unique, or high-risk destinations. A TMC that offers access to real-time reporting empowers you to manage travel-related concerns as they happen.
How to measure success with business travel reporting
You can judge the success of your business travel reporting format by tracking certain KPIs, such as:
Best practices for business travel reporting
The best steps to creating a successful business travel reporting template are setting a clear travel policy, choosing the right tech solutions, and getting employees the proper training. To do this, you'll also need to review and audit the travel program, but reporting comes in handy there as well!
Setting up a process that automatically gathers travel data and creates custom business trip expense reports will save a lot of time and company resources.
Corporate travel reporting is important because it impacts your company's bottom line. It affects any process you use that needs to be thorough and precise. Armed with accurate travel data, you can make the right spending choices in the future, keep travelers happy and safe, and take advantage of exclusive travel deals.
When looking for a reporting tool, the best fit will be an all-in-one tool that matches your business needs well. Does your travel include industry-specific situations, like remote locations, last-minute changes, or multi-city itineraries? The right reporting tool can help you manage and streamline complex travel scenarios into something much easier to manage.
Ready to integrate all of your data into one seamless platform?
Business travel reporting resources
Related stories
Meet Melon.
See how Melon makes business travel reporting easier
Melon gives you all your travel needs on one simple platform that's simple, intuitive and synced across devices. Let our travel experts help you create reporting dashboards that make your life easier and get you the data you need.