Small to Midsized Business Travel Accounts are Making a Comeback

So much of the business travel trade press is centered on the corporate giants and mega agencies that we sometimes forget that the SME market is a huge portion of that arena and represents a growing opportunity for those of us who have been servicing that market for a long time. Mark Frary at Business Travel News has some interesting observations noted below from a portion of his article, ‘Small Cos. Again Scrutinizing Travel Approaches’:

Greenville, S.C.-based cloud technology connector ScanSource is new to managed travel. The 2,200-employee company hired Shannon Wilson as a dedicated travel manager in 2022 to put some strategy behind its spending, which now exceeds its pre-pandemic annual volume.

The company uses specialized business travel programs suppliers have devised to attract this growing small and midsize slice of the travel market. ScanSource taps these programs to make its travel budget more effective by applying discounts, garnering benefits and securing data to manage the company’s growing travel needs. And Wilson is pulling some classic—and some new—levers to ensure ScanSource travelers are making the most of their business travel budgets. 

“Our focus is on traveler duty of care, convenience and cost savings,” Wilson said. “We encourage our travelers to practice discretion and frugality when making their travel arrangements. This includes making travel decisions based on convenient, safe, cost-effective options, as opposed to only [relying on] frequent-guest programs.”

In terms of newer strategies, demand management is always on the table, she said. ScanSource now sees how business can be conducted effectively via remote technologies. As travel opened back up, the company continues to “keep an eye on travel,” opting for virtual solutions when possible. Yet, added Wilson, “travel remains a necessity” for the expanding company, and one that requires more support than it did in a pre-pandemic world.

“Our focus is on improving our travelers’ customer experience,” she said, “as challenges in the travel industry remain, including the shortage of staffing … and travel disruptions.” To that end, the company manages its travel program with the support of a travel management company, a preferred corporate online booking tool and corporate card.

“We take a very hands-on approach, working closely with our employees to ensure continued compliance with our travel policies and an awareness of travel best practices and cost-saving opportunities,” she said, noting that supplier-provided SME programs had improved since pre-pandemic times.

At the beginning of 2023, Morgan Stanley in a corporate travel outlook for the U.S. noted that 32 percent of smaller companies said travel budgets had returned to pre-pandemic levels compared with 23 percent of big firms that had done so. BTN’s more recent survey showed that 59 percent of responding small and midsize firms had returned to or exceeded pre-pandemic travel spending levels.

TravelBank, an integrated expense and travel management platform focused on SME programs, has seen demand returning, according to CEO Duke Chung.

“We have seen travel come back very strongly since Covid because of the return to work and people wanting to attend conferences and offsites with their employees,” according to Chung.

Yet growing demand is not coming across the board.

“In certain sectors you see continuous growth in business travel although in some sectors due to market changes, particularly technology companies, you do see a slowdown in travel,” he said.

Chung said many SMEs look to manage travel and expense with a single facilitator, like TravelBank, which was acquired by U.S. Bank in 2021 and is adding virtual card options. Other suppliers, like travel management company Navan, also have developed joint platforms. Legacy TMCs are getting into the game as well with products like American Express Global Business Travel’s Neo1, but small and midsize specialists have been in the market for years, providing capabilities to support travel for small and midsize travel programs.

Chung underscored the ability for agencies to support unused ticket credits and access to discounted hotel rates among a number of other key offerings.

“SMEs had a lot of credits with suppliers, and they needed a way to be able to access that, so getting help from a travel management company… was really important to help restart travel for their businesses,” he said. “We also have consortia hotel rates, which have previously been available for large companies, but this has not been as easily accessible for small businesses.”

Although the “Big Guys” may be well positioned to handle the truly large, multi-national travel accounts, many of us have been managing SME business travel for decades and it’s nice to see that the level of service offered by an independent travel agency is still appreciated and, in many cases, competitive.

Mark Altman
Forte Business Travel Solutions
516-624-0500 x5072
maltman@travelsavers.com

Source: BTN, https://www.businesstravelnews.com/, posted by Mark Frary, September 6, 2023. Click here for a direct link to the article.