What is a travel management company (TMC)? Services, benefits

If your team frequently travels for business, you know how much time and effort go into booking trips, managing business travel expenses, and tracking receipts.

A travel management company (TMC) can ease those headaches. By handling bookings and negotiating directly with airlines, hotels, and car rental partners, TMCs free your team from administrative tasks and help reduce corporate travel costs.

Partnering with a TMC can be a game-changer for companies of any size, saving time, money, and stress while improving oversight of every business trip.

What is a travel management company (TMC)?

A travel management company is a specialized B2B provider that helps your business plan, book, and manage corporate travel while enforcing policy and controlling costs.

Modern TMCs have evolved far beyond traditional travel agencies. They combine industry expertise with advanced technology, offering centralized booking tools, automated expense tracking, real-time reporting, and 24/7 traveler support. This tech-driven approach saves time, cuts costs, and gives finance teams better visibility into companywide travel spending.

Leading TMCs include American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT), CWT, Egencia, and BCD Travel, which serve companies across industries and help them optimize every stage of business travel.

TMCs vs. traditional travel agencies

Traditional travel agencies are built for leisure travel. They focus on destination advice and booking individual trips. Travel management companies, by contrast, are designed for business travel programs. They align bookings with company goals and budgets, enforce policy, and support employees on the road.

Beyond reservations, TMCs connect to expense systems, surface real-time spend data, and use industry partnerships to lower costs and manage risk. The result is a programmatic approach to corporate travel—centralized, compliant, and supported 24/7—rather than one-off trip planning.

Key services provided by travel management companies

TMCs manage every part of corporate travel—flights, hotels, car rentals, rail, and more—while enforcing policy and controlling costs. Core services typically include:

• Cost management: Tools to track and control travel spending in real time. Finance teams can monitor budgets and spot savings opportunities across departments.
• Travel policies and compliance: Support to create and enforce customized travel and expense policies, with approval workflows and guardrails that keep bookings within guidelines
• Reporting and analytics: Detailed reports and dashboards show spend, savings, and trends, giving you the data you need for budgeting and program optimization
• Technology and tools: Integrated platforms centralize booking, automate expense capture, and apply your travel and expense policy automatically. Travelers get mobile access to itineraries, alerts, and support.
• Duty of care and risk management: Location-aware tools, safety alerts, and 24/7 assistance help you meet duty of care obligations and keep travelers informed before and during trips

7 benefits of using a travel management company

TMCs offer practical solutions that can help improve your company's travel experience and financial outcomes. Here are some of the benefits you can expect from partnering with a travel management company:

1. Reduced costs and concierge service

TMCs employ experts who know the travel industry inside and out. They have a nuanced understanding of market trends, airline routes, how to negotiate with hotels, and other skills that can help businesses secure better prices.

By leveraging their industry connections and expertise, TMCs often negotiate reduced rates and perks that aren't readily available to your small business. These cost-saving strategies can improve your return on investment (ROI) from corporate travel.

2. Streamlined travel booking and management

TMCs are a one-stop shop for all travel solutions. They offer user-friendly online platforms and mobile apps that simplify the booking process for employees. Many administrative tasks, like itinerary syncing, approvals, and expense uploads, are automated to save your team time.

TMCs also integrate with business expense trackers, making it easy for you to analyze and report on travel expenses. This centralization reduces the administrative burden on your team and helps guarantee compliance with your company’s travel policies.

3. Emergency assistance

In the event of unforeseen circumstances, such as a sudden natural disaster, TMCs will provide emergency assistance. They can help locate employees, send real-time safety alerts, and make sure travelers are safe.

This responsibility for protection provides reassurance for both travelers and your business, reducing potential risks and liabilities that could occur from unexpected events.

4. Safety assistance

Hiring a corporate travel management provider is a smart move for risk management. Imagine you’re sending employees to an unfamiliar overseas destination. Your representatives at the TMC have all your traveler information and can provide real-time guidance on potential travel risks, local conditions, and safety protocols.

These services also help companies fulfill their duty of care obligations by keeping employees informed and protected while on the road.

5. Data-driven insights

TMCs collect and analyze a wealth of travel data, which gives your business insight into your travel spending patterns. By identifying trends and opportunities for improvement, you can proactively refine your travel policies and strategies. Some platforms also benchmark travel spending against industry averages or send alerts when budgets are close to being exceeded.

TMCs also provide detailed reporting that helps your business make informed decisions, whether it's renegotiating contracts with preferred vendors, adjusting travel policies, or exploring alternative travel options.

6. 24/7 support

Many TMCs offer 24/7 customer support, which means employees have assistance whenever they need it. This level of service is especially valuable for if your business has international travel needs or employees in different time zones.

Immediate support can be crucial for resolving issues, rebooking flights due to disruptions, or addressing any travel-related emergencies like last-minute cancellations. Many TMCs also store traveler preferences, such as seat selection or loyalty programs, to create a more personalized and seamless experience.

7. Integration and compliance with your travel policy

A TMC integrates your travel policy into its searches, so employees are guaranteed to stay within the bounds. And a TMC will flag if for some reason a non-compliant travel itinerary is created.

Modern TMCs also integrate directly with your travel and expense management platforms, automatically syncing bookings and expenses for real-time visibility. It saves time both for you and your team making the travel plans.

How travel management companies work

Working with a travel management company usually starts with an onboarding process. The TMC learns about your organization’s travel needs, budgets, and policies, then sets up a company travel profile and connects preferred vendors. They also integrate travel and expense systems so bookings and spending data flow into one platform.

Once the program is live, employees can book travel through the TMC’s online portal, mobile app, or by contacting an agent. The TMC manages approvals, enforces company rules, and gives finance and HR full visibility into bookings and expenses. Employees spend less time coordinating logistics and more time focusing on their work.

Behind the scenes, TMCs use integrated technology platforms that combine booking tools, expense management, analytics dashboards, and traveler tracking. This unified approach brings every part of the travel process together and improves oversight.

The booking process

Most TMCs offer self-service online booking platforms where employees can search flights, hotels, and transportation options within company policy and preferred vendor networks. Mobile apps extend these features on the go, letting travelers view itineraries, receive updates, and submit expenses. For complex or last-minute trips, agent-assisted booking is available to provide expert help when it’s needed most.

Reporting and analytics

TMCs deliver detailed reports that show where travel dollars go and how well policies are followed. With these insights, you can identify savings, strengthen compliance, and plan smarter travel budgets. Some platforms also include benchmarking dashboards that highlight key metrics, such as spend by department or cost per trip, to guide continuous improvement.

Choosing the right travel management company

Choosing the right TMC depends on your company’s size, travel patterns, and priorities. The best partner will align with your goals, offer the right mix of technology and service, and scale as your business grows.

When evaluating potential partners, focus on these factors:

• Company size and travel volume: Select a TMC that can handle your current and projected travel needs without reducing service quality
• Geographic coverage and supplier network: Look for a partner with global reach and strong relationships with airlines, hotels, and transportation providers
• Technology and integrations: Make sure the platform connects with your existing travel, expense, and HR systems for seamless data sharing
• Service levels and support: Review support hours, escalation procedures, and response times so employees have help when issues arise

Questions to ask potential TMCs

Before committing, confirm fit and transparency by asking:

• Implementation and onboarding: How long will setup take, and what support is included?
• Pricing and fees: What costs are covered, and are there additional charges for premium services or international bookings?
• Reporting and data ownership: What reporting tools are available, and who owns the data generated through your account?
• Policy customization: Can the platform accommodate your travel policies, approval workflows, and spending limits?

How Ramp can replace your TMC

Managing corporate travel expenses can easily waste your team hours each month. Between tracking receipts across multiple employees, enforcing travel policies, and reconciling expenses weeks after trips end, finance teams often find themselves buried in paperwork or chasing down missing documentation.

Automate travel expenses

The Ramp Business Credit Card transforms this process into a streamlined workflow. When employees book travel using their Ramp cards, every transaction automatically flows into your expense management system with merchant details already populated. The moment an employee swipes their card, the expense appears in your dashboard.

Automated capture is just the beginning. Ramp’s spend controls let you set precise rules before travel even begins. You can create custom spending limits for different employee levels, restrict certain merchant categories, or set daily limits that align with your travel policy.

Need to ensure junior employees book economy flights while executives have more flexibility? Set it once, and Ramp enforces it automatically. When an employee tries to book outside policy, they’ll know immediately—not weeks later during expense review.

Gain real-time visibility and control over travel spend

The key advantage is real-time visibility. Instead of waiting until month-end to discover budget overruns, you can monitor travel spending as it happens. See exactly where your travel budget stands, identify trends across departments, and make adjustments on the fly.

This immediate insight lets you course-correct during busy travel seasons rather than explaining overages after the fact. By combining automated expense capture, proactive spend controls, and real-time reporting, Ramp turns corporate travel management from a monthly headache into a smooth, controlled process.

Streamline corporate travel from booking to reconciliation

Ramp Travel is designed to simplify every part of business travel management. From predefined spending policies that prevent unauthorized expenses to freeing employees from time-consuming reports, Ramp helps finance teams gain control with automation.

Learn more with a free interactive demo.