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Travel Expenses: Dumb Things your Company has Done

Travel Expenses: Dumb Things your Company has Done

Old Jan 31, 2017, 8:26 am
  #61  
 
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I was not allowed to use Priceline to bid and pay for hotels, even though it would often save $100/night on guaranteed trips. I gave up the fight and now reap the affinity program benefits anyway. Although my current employer would definitely allow this. I make a point of inquiring about travel policies during the interview/offer phase, to make sure their travel policy is going to be amenable to me being on the road 20-30 weeks per year.
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Old Jan 31, 2017, 8:54 am
  #62  
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Originally Posted by cbn42
While we Flyertalkers are usually experts at booking things at the best possible cost, from the company's perspective it may be very rational to not allow deviation from policy. Most employees will not abuse it, but there may be some unscrupulous ones who will extend their trip on the company's dime, and then fudge the numbers to make it look like they saved the company's money. There are plenty of easy ways to do that. Bosses aren't always well versed in the nuances of booking, so from the company's perspective, it may make mroe sense not to allow this than to hire someone (or outsource the task) to evaluate these situations.



Avis may have been giving the company a rebate on amount spent, or a certain number of free rentals or something else of value in return for a certain number of bookings. These details aren't always disclosed to employees.

There may have been a rebate, or there may not have been..however because I was responsible for my budget only it strained the budget..something they were still putting pressure on employees to reduce constantly.
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Old Jan 31, 2017, 8:55 am
  #63  
 
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Originally Posted by zanderblue
You need to be careful when comparing charged prices for travel expenses versus actual cost to company.
Most or if not all big multinationals have contract agreements with providers that trigger significant rebates after preset spend limits are hit.
So although it appears flight costs more than freely available on internet or direct from airline, after rebate is applied the actual cost is a lot less.
This exactly. E.g. If the annual expenditures on travel is $5 million and a corporate agent can generate a $500k reduction, the company doesn't care that your ticket costs double.

These contracts are put up for bid every few years.
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Old Jan 31, 2017, 8:56 am
  #64  
 
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VP approval if travel isn't booked 14 days in advance.

The objective is to save money so time is of the essence. The cost of the flight can easily go up by 50% or more in the 3 days it takes to obtain approval. Doh!

The people who create our travel policies only ever travel as far as their local supermarkets and have absolutely no idea about making travel easier for those of us who have to travel on a regular basis as part of our jobs.

Every point on the travel policy boils down to 'lowest possible fare'. Thanks a bunch my company! It makes me feel so special that you think so much of me. When I win the lottery I will tell you face-to-face where to stick your travel policy.
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Old Jan 31, 2017, 9:15 am
  #65  
 
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Originally Posted by roberino
I'm amused by the notion that people are going on business travel when it's not critical.
Lots of sales-related business travel can be considered 'not critical.'

Could you have closed the deal over the phone & webex? Maybe...

Often it's a bit of a crap-shoot that is difficult to measure.

I've flown to and worked many trade shows where the value wasn't known until after the event. In some cases the ROI was excellent, in others there was none.
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Old Jan 31, 2017, 9:21 am
  #66  
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Originally Posted by VivoPerLei
Not going to review 33 pages to see if anyone else has the same, but my company recently instituted a policy where we have to pay all expenses up front using our corporate card, including air travel. I think it's a little Draconian to require us to purchase our own plane tickets on Concur but then say it has to be on the company card only in order to be reimbursable
If this meets your bar for Draconian, reading back a few months of posts in this thread will definitely be a therapeutic exercise and directly contribute to your overall job satisfaction.
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Old Jan 31, 2017, 9:40 am
  #67  
 
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Originally Posted by MDtR-Chicago
If this meets your bar for Draconian, reading back a few months of posts in this thread will definitely be a therapeutic exercise and directly contribute to your overall job satisfaction.
Actually, in hindsight I do have it good. I deleted my post.
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Old Jan 31, 2017, 12:02 pm
  #68  
 
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Originally Posted by MDtR-Chicago
Originally Posted by VivoPerLei
Not going to review 33 pages to see if anyone else has the same, but my company recently instituted a policy where we have to pay all expenses up front using our corporate card, including air travel. I think it's a little Draconian to require us to purchase our own plane tickets on Concur but then say it has to be on the company card only in order to be reimbursable
If this meets your bar for Draconian, reading back a few months of posts in this thread will definitely be a therapeutic exercise and directly contribute to your overall job satisfaction.
Originally Posted by VivoPerLei
Actually, in hindsight I do have it good. I deleted my post.
If the only concern is not getting points, then I'd say the issue is pretty minor. If the concern is not getting paid until after the trip, and possibly after the CC bill is due, that's more concerning.

My company was recently bought out, the old company paid for airline tickets on their card, the employees didn't book or pay directly. The new company has us use our personal cards, and then doesn't pay until after the trip is completed. This tends to lead to people waiting until the last minute to buy airline tickets.
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Old Jan 31, 2017, 12:52 pm
  #69  
 
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Originally Posted by djk7
If the only concern is not getting points, then I'd say the issue is pretty minor. If the concern is not getting paid until after the trip, and possibly after the CC bill is due, that's more concerning.

My company was recently bought out, the old company paid for airline tickets on their card, the employees didn't book or pay directly. The new company has us use our personal cards, and then doesn't pay until after the trip is completed. This tends to lead to people waiting until the last minute to buy airline tickets.
Yes, not concerned with the points as much as having to deal with fronting the money for the airfare, then having to deal with canceled trips and managing the airfare credits on my own. Like I said though, I'll get used to it, and in the grand scheme of things, I can't complain.
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Old Jan 31, 2017, 4:09 pm
  #70  
 
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Originally Posted by gglave
Lots of sales-related business travel can be considered 'not critical.'

Could you have closed the deal over the phone & webex? Maybe...

Often it's a bit of a crap-shoot that is difficult to measure.
It amuses me when an exec or finance person who's looking to cut costs requests proof that attending a sales meeting in person is critical. There is virtually never objective proof. Prior to the meeting I can easily list half a dozen things that might go wrong if we're not there in person. After the meeting I can list half a dozen things (most of them the same) that could've gone wrong if we weren't there. It's all debatable because there's no rigorous A/B testing in enterprise sales. Demanding proof here is the refuge of cowards and fools.
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Old Feb 1, 2017, 5:03 am
  #71  
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To concentrate employees' minds on filing their expenses promptly, one of my previous employers required employees below a certain level to us a corporate charge card that was settled by direct withdrawal from our bank accounts X days after the bill. The company guaranteed to the card issuer that they would pay if the employee didn't, but if the card issuer called for that payment, it would be a termination issue.
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Old Feb 1, 2017, 8:48 am
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Not my company exactly, but my major client is keen that I use their travel agent for airline bookings. I normally comply but on one job I was very busy and booked my own flights to the US. When I finally billed them my contact at the client sent me an email warning me that I'd made a mistake because the travel costs were "too low to be sensible".
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Old Feb 1, 2017, 9:33 am
  #73  
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My friend works for a company that opted for the lowest possible fare and used software to find it. The result was that everywhere he went, he had to make stops..sometimes 2 or 3 layovers. Over time, this meant more missed connections which meant more lost work and more expenses. I am not sure if that outweighed the costs saved in flights or not, but the work enviroment became so unpleasant for he and his co-workers that within 2 years most had left the company and turn over increased significantly.

Sometimes it's cheaper in the long run to spend more to protect yourself against intangible, uncontrollable costs.
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Old Feb 1, 2017, 10:28 am
  #74  
 
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Originally Posted by djk7
If the only concern is not getting points, then I'd say the issue is pretty minor. If the concern is not getting paid until after the trip, and possibly after the CC bill is due, that's more concerning.

My company was recently bought out, the old company paid for airline tickets on their card, the employees didn't book or pay directly. The new company has us use our personal cards, and then doesn't pay until after the trip is completed. This tends to lead to people waiting until the last minute to buy airline tickets.
I'm actually glad we moved to a corporate Amex card. Sure, I miss out on the points/cashback/whatever of using a personal card, but I no longer have to pay my credit card and wait to be fully reimbursed.

In my case, the card is in my name and will affect my credit if I'm delinquent, but as long as I (or my admin, actually) get my expense reports in on time, the company pays off the balance directly, and reimburses me via direct deposit for any expenses for which I had to use cash or personal card (for those vendors which don't take AmEx - more abroad than in the US).
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Old Feb 1, 2017, 7:15 pm
  #75  
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Originally Posted by FatnLoud
Not my company exactly, but my major client is keen that I use their travel agent for airline bookings. I normally comply but on one job I was very busy and booked my own flights to the US. When I finally billed them my contact at the client sent me an email warning me that I'd made a mistake because the travel costs were "too low to be sensible".
What they probably really mean is that you were embarrassing either their own employees or their travel agent, with which they may have an undisclosed relationship.
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