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Ridiculous things your company has done to reduce travel expenses

Ridiculous things your company has done to reduce travel expenses

Old Aug 23, 2012, 9:23 am
  #31  
 
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I don't know that this is "ridiculous", but not really fair in the context of the situation...

I was taking a 3-day business trip with two other people. I had worked with them before. For background's sake, these are two people, albeit very pleasant ones, who enjoy eating large, heavy, mostly fried meals, skipping breakfast and lunch, and munching on pork skins, fried snacks, and soda all day. Anyway I was arriving a day later than the other two. I was told that I could not rent a car (even though I get ridiculously low rates) and to take a cab to the meeting upon arrival. I was forced to stay at a certain hotel (thankfully it was at least my preferred chain). I was then to ride with the co-workers for the rest of the trip. I decided that in order to preserve my health, and my stomach, I would rent my own car at my own expense. I simply cannot keep to their dining schedules and preferences. I also detest being stuck at a hotel for three days with nowhere to go. Forget room service...the offerings are horrendous at this particular property (aren't they at most?), not to mention expensive. Turns out one of them drove from her hometown in a rental car, and one had to leave before I even arrived (also had a rental car) due to a family emergency and wouldn't be returning until the following day. So they both would have had cars, and I would not. I ended up hauling healthy snacks and protein bars with me to get me through the day (although they looked at me like I had two heads when I pulled them out). One of them was complaining about having a bad headache because she hadn't eaten anything but pork skins all day, so I offered her one of my protein bars, and she was aghast that I had paid $3.99 for it. I think they thought I was being pompous with my healthy food, but I know my body, what it can handle, and what it cannot, and what I need to do to be productive. Health doesn't come cheaply!
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Old Aug 23, 2012, 9:41 am
  #32  
 
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Originally Posted by mfkne
Ponder for several weeks whether travel can be approved until the very last moment. At which point the ticket is more than twice as expensive as it was several weeks before.
That is a great point. I used to have a manager ask me on a Thursday if I could be Kiev on Monday, then wonder why the fare was $2000.

The upside was that the Business class fare was $2100, so I got to fly in front.
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Old Aug 23, 2012, 10:13 am
  #33  
 
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Bill....

Originally Posted by 1kBill
At one company I worked at, movies in the hotel room were considered a personal expense and therefore non-reimbursable. But "beverages" were reimbursed, so you could sit a bar all night long and drink yourself silly and have the company pick up the tab.
....maybe we worked for the same company...we had the exact same policy.
I believe it has to do with what the company can/can't write off as a legitimate business expense.
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Old Aug 23, 2012, 10:43 am
  #34  
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Our company sends travel approvals to obnoxiously high levels...division managers are involved...and that delays things greatly. Frequently people will plan trips out 4-6 weeks but then bureaucrats along the approval chain will ask for "justification" and by the time everything is booked it's done 1 week in advance at high fares.

On the plus side, our per diems are a flat amount that is typically more than enough to cover a pretty nice dinner and drinks. No itemized receipts or beer police.

I have also been successful at nudging our travel booking system in such a way that "my" desired flights are always chosen. Same goes for hotels: I know within a given city which ones are our approved hotels, so I can craft a target address that naturally leads to my preferred hotel being chosen. (Although I do have to stay within the approved list...)

Only thing I hate is that our rental agency is always, always, always Hertz. That means no Exec Select cars...just the midsize we book and receive as base #1 Club Gold members. I still give National enough leisure rentals to keep a good status with them...

We don't share hotel rooms, but we sometimes do share rental cars. Kind of annoying but not the end of the world since I can usually have friends meet me at the hotel if I want to do something with people not from work...
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Old Aug 23, 2012, 11:21 am
  #35  
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Originally Posted by medic51vrf
This isn't travel related per se, but during the GFC I was told I could no longer have business cards because "if I did I'd only give them away to people"!

I didn't bother explaining that business cards were SUPPOSED to be given away to people.

BTW a $20 box of cards usually lasted me over a year....
Compliments slips - bane of my life! It used to be we had nice, embossed slips to put in with tickets, brochures, memos etc. They they decided to save money, and now we have a 'pad' of notes (like a souvenier phone pad you buy in tourist traps tbh!) The biggest issue? Because they are cheap, you can't actually put them through the printer, because the ink melts! So I have to handwrite them all (and I have sucky handwriting). Looks, and feels cheap!
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Old Aug 23, 2012, 11:22 am
  #36  
 
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Complaining that the free ticket my child travelled with (we were house hunting at the time) had not been approved by the travel department. Did I mention, the child's flight was free?
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Old Aug 23, 2012, 11:57 am
  #37  
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Originally Posted by Often1
1.
In the end, if you treat your people like dirt, they will treat you like dirt. The good people will move on and you will be left with the dregs. But, the real key is that you explain your policies. There are sometimes good reasons for doing things in a way which is not apparent to all. While an employer does not need to walk through every minor change in policy, it really does help when you explain to your people the basics of why you do things the way you do. Yes, doing it a different way may occasionally be cheaper, but overall, it may be better to do it another way. Spending the 5 mins. to explain it, pays dividends.
Back when I was given a budget only and no other guidelines, I managed to always come in under budget. It was rather easy. The company did not care if you spent your entire per diem on booze so long as you stayed within the per diem, same for flight class, hotel and car.

I did have an a**hole boss at one point who screamed at me..not for going over budget, but for coming in just UNDER budget..it was "too close". This was silly of course, I was under. If they didn't like that, lower the budget. He got his just deserts though when fired for charging in room porn to his corp credit card. Good to know someone was watching him too.
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Old Aug 23, 2012, 12:01 pm
  #38  
 
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Originally Posted by pinworm
He got his just deserts though when fired for charging in room porn to his corp credit card. Good to know someone was watching him too.
Classic.
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Old Aug 23, 2012, 12:02 pm
  #39  
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Originally Posted by mapleg
Complaining that the free ticket my child travelled with (we were house hunting at the time) had not been approved by the travel department. Did I mention, the child's flight was free?
Well, did you charge your child's flight to the company?








Mike
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Old Aug 23, 2012, 12:48 pm
  #40  
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I actually had a boss get annoyed at me a few years back for coming in too far under budget. He was concerned that I'd ruin the following year's forecasts and budget for travel to that particular city (one we all went to often).

Reasons I was coming in under budget were mainly related to advance planning of airfare. My self-interest in the diligent planning was to always use my preferred carrier at such good fares that no one would suggest I fly some other carrier. (I'd typically get $300 R/T's where colleagues who didn't think much about their travel plans would pay $750-800 R/T a couple days before their trip.) But I also did things like park on the street (legally) instead of in the hotel parking garage for insanely high rates.

So eventually I started making up for it by eating like a king (we were still on itemized receipts at the time) and taking lots of clients out for dinners - even more than usual.

Still never could bring myself to stick the client with a hotel parking charge. Even though it would have scored me more hotel points, it just felt irresponsible to pay Marriott $35-40/nt. for absolutely no reason at all. Buying a client an absurdly overpriced martini or two? Sure...no problem. But something about paying to park just irritated me...
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Old Aug 23, 2012, 12:56 pm
  #41  
 
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Originally Posted by pinniped
I actually had a boss get annoyed at me a few years back for coming in too far under budget. He was concerned that I'd ruin the following year's forecasts and budget for travel to that particular city (one we all went to often).
In more recent years, I've been told NEVER to be under budget. About 105% of my budget is what I aim for now. Any less and the budget gets cut. Any more and I get chewed. At just over budget I get it increased the following year and still stay out of the poo with my bosses.
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Old Aug 23, 2012, 1:20 pm
  #42  
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My last company started buying employee's old cars and using them as company cars. I ended up with a 9 year old Land Rover Discovery with over 100,000 miles. They also didn't replace the windshield wipers because "it rarely rains in Las Vegas". Sure enough, a big rain storm happened and I could see out the windshield better with the wipers off
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Old Aug 23, 2012, 3:21 pm
  #43  
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Originally Posted by CMK10
My last company started buying employee's old cars and using them as company cars. I ended up with a 9 year old Land Rover Discovery with over 100,000 miles. They also didn't replace the windshield wipers because "it rarely rains in Las Vegas". Sure enough, a big rain storm happened and I could see out the windshield better with the wipers off
I think this one wins! /thread
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Old Aug 23, 2012, 4:44 pm
  #44  
 
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Originally Posted by HomerJ
....maybe we worked for the same company...we had the exact same policy.
I believe it has to do with what the company can/can't write off as a legitimate business expense.
in one example of a company not paying for employees to watch videos in their hotel rooms, I was told it was in case you were watching porn. Which the company would not finance. So just in case, the company would not pay for any in-room videos at all.
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Old Aug 23, 2012, 6:53 pm
  #45  
 
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Originally Posted by medic51vrf
In more recent years, I've been told NEVER to be under budget. About 105% of my budget is what I aim for now. Any less and the budget gets cut. Any more and I get chewed. At just over budget I get it increased the following year and still stay out of the poo with my bosses.
Do you work for either government or a non-profit agency?
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