Your guide to corporate travel discounts & savings
Inefficient corporate travel can feel like a financial black hole, but your corporate travel program doesn’t need to be a bottomless pit for your budget if you start taking advantage of business travel discounts.
This guide includes:
- Understanding corporate travel discounts.
- Types of corporate discounts available.
- Flight-specific discounts.
- Hotel-specific discounts.
- Rental car discounts.
- Tips for getting corporate travel discounts.
If you know that you’re overspending on your travel program, the only way to change that is to start thinking more strategically. By leveraging corporate travel discount programs, you can cut back on wasted travel spend and find new, exciting opportunities to stretch your travel budget.
What are corporate travel discounts?
Corporate travel discounts are special deals that travel service providers offer to companies for their business travel. These rates are designed to cater to the travel needs of individual businesses, giving them access to more economical options or additional perks that might not be available to a leisure traveler.
Why? Essentially, travel service providers want to give businesses like yours better rates, so they can gain your loyalty and secure a high volume of return business.
Here are two types of business travel rates:
- Fixed Rates: These are predetermined prices as set by the travel service providers. Fixed rates remain constant over a specified period.
- Negotiated Rates: If the fixed rate doesn’t suit your company, you can engage in direct negotiations with travel service providers. This would secure custom corporate travel deals and get your organization the best possible rates and terms for your unique travel needs and volume.
Not sure how? No problem – you can even let a travel management company (TMC) handle the negotiations for you! A TMC like Corporate Traveler can leverage our buying to find more value and benefits for your business and your travelers.
Think you’re spending too much on corporate travel?
This guide breaks down smarter ways to control your travel budget, without cutting corners. See how SMEs like yours are saving up to 18% per trip with smart policy tweaks, better visibility, and expert support.
Types of corporate travel discounts
There are effectively three categories of corporate travel discount programs you can arrange with vendors:
- Corporate flight discounts
- Corporate hotel discounts
- Corporate rental car discounts
Let’s explore each of these types of discounts in more detail:
Corporate flight discounts
Do businesses get discounts on flights? Absolutely! However, business travel discounts aren’t limited to air travel alone.
You can also score great deals on corporate hotel rates, corporate car rentals, and rideshare corporate accounts.
How much is a corporate flight discount?
Most airlines offer a range of corporate flight packages that include different levels of service and discounts (like “bronze,” “silver,” or “gold” packages).
Typically, the higher you are on the totem pole, the better deals you get on flight booking – and the better perks your team will receive.
What are the benefits of corporate flight booking?
Reward flights after a certain number of bookings
- Upgraded seating
- Larger baggage facilities
- Easy rescheduling
- Faster boarding and exit
- Lounge access
Bonus perk: These corporate travel discount programs also provide valuable insights into employee travel data, aiding companies in initiating cost-saving measures and refining their expense policies.
Why corporate travel discounts are worth it
- Corporate travel cost savings: Corporate rates can save your company quite a bit of money and help pad your travel spend wallet. And when it comes to your business, every dollar counts.
- Convenience: Bookings are a challenge to manage, even just for one traveler. Business travel discount programs let you ditch the headaches of organizing and planning trips by offering tools that make booking easy.
- Control: Predictability in travel expenses is a thing of beauty. With these rates, unexpected spending becomes a thing of the past. They shine a spotlight on out-of-policy bookings, giving you visibility into your spending and helping you stick to your budget.
- Employee perks: It’s not just about the company; it’s about the people behind it. Even when employees travel for business, they can still earn loyalty points towards their personal memberships. And you know what happy employees mean? Higher retention rates, morale that soars, and a workforce that outperforms.
Sounds pretty good, right? Now let’s look at how it all works:
How much is a corporate hotel discount?
Corporate discounts for hotels usually start around 10%. But with thousands of hotels out there, if you do a little window shopping and throw some negotiations into the mix, you can easily track down better deals.
Keep in mind that hotel rates are rarely set in stone. The rate might stay the same all year round, or it could only be available for select booking periods, such as on business days or during off-peak seasons. But by booking through a TMC, you don’t have to worry about that.
At Corporate Traveler, we book 10 million room nights a year for our customers globally and have exclusive rates with more than 50,000 properties. This means we have a strong foundation for negotiating special rates for you, at hotels where we know you and your travelers will always be taken care of.
What are the benefits of corporate hotel booking?
Flexible cancellation and rescheduling policies
- Loyalty points, which can be exchanged for free nights or add-ons
- Free meals
- Complimentary stay
- Late check-out times
Corporate car rental discounts
How much is a corporate car rental discount?
Like airlines, car rental companies often offer a variety of rental car packages that include different levels of service and varied rates.
However, these packages and corporate travel discount programs are customized to meet the needs of individual companies and their transport needs. Businesses can also earn discounts by participating in loyalty schemes.
What are the benefits of corporate car rental booking?
- Free rental days
- Customized check-out processes
- Free upgrades
- Unlimited mileage
- Improved pick-up and drop-off terms
- Guaranteed vehicles when you need them
*Benefits may vary by provider and level of corporate package purchased.
How to get corporate travel discounts
The easiest way to unlock corporate travel discounts
That’s easy to answer: invest in a full travel management package!
With Corporate Traveler, you can expect greater choice without missing out on business travel savings. Thanks to our long-lasting relationship with suppliers, we can hook you up with ALL the best corporate travel deals.
Our network spans 90+ countries and counting, giving you global deals and local feels.
Ready for the best of travel booking and budgeting?
Meet Melon, the platform that connects you with all our rates, deals, and corporate travel savings. Melon is your one-stop shop for booking, safety, reporting, policy, and expenses. Get options based on your preferences from millions of travel rates on any device.
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