- What is business travel management software?
- 8 corporate travel tools to manage business trips more efficiently
- What to look for when choosing a business travel tool
- Choose Ramp for integrated travel booking and expense management
Recent projections from the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) estimate business travel spending to hit more than $1.48 trillion in 2024, topping its pre-pandemic level. And it’s only projected to grow—to over $2 trillion by 2028.
With travel budgets expected to increase drastically, companies need to make smarter choices about how they use those funds. This is where business travel tools can help.
Here, we’ll look at six tools businesses can use to book travel (and save some money in the process) plus what features to look for when choosing a platform for your business.
What is business travel management software?
Companies use travel management software to manage corporate travel, book flights and lodging for business trips, and monitor all travel-related expenses. These tools streamline the travel booking process, rein in out-of-policy spend, and enable organizations to provide a better travel experience for their employees.
The best travel management tools also offer powerful expense management features, like advanced reporting capabilities and automated approval workflows to keep spending compliant with your corporate travel policy.
8 corporate travel tools to manage business trips more efficiently
Business travel management tools
Many business travelers prefer to book trips themselves, and it’s easy to see why: This option allows them to build their travel plans around their lifestyle, values, habits, and preferences. In the best-case scenarios, self-booking also helps employees feel satisfied and more in control of their jobs.
On the other hand, employees who are forced to manage their own travel often spend their time stressing over itinerary details instead of completing work. Finance teams that allow employees to self-book must also deal with out-of-policy spending and a lack of control over their travel and expense (T&E) budgets.
To keep your employees happy and protect your bottom line, we compiled a list of today’s best travel management platforms with enterprise-grade controls for managing corporate travel spending:
Ramp
Ramp is an all-in-one finance operations platform with a broad range of features to help small businesses and enterprises alike with their travel and expense management needs. Sure, we may be biased in giving our platform the top spot in this list, but our G2 and Capterra ratings speak for themselves. And if you need more reasons to try Ramp, here are a few:
- Integrated business travel booking: We make it easy for employees to see what flights and hotels are within policy. Ramp Travel pulls together a wide inventory of hotel accommodations and flights for employees to review and book—including deals not available elsewhere, thanks to our partnership with Priceline.
- Comprehensive expense management: Finance teams can set granular controls on how employees can use company funds for business trips with Ramp’s expense management automation. Our real-time reporting capabilities also allow you to actively manage your T&E budget and prevent out-of-policy spending before it happens.
- Automated expense reporting and reimbursement: Once travelers get back, there’s no need to play catch-up with expense reports. Ramp prompts employees to submit receipts for each transaction made with our corporate cards in real time. Our AI-powered software then reviews and categorizes each expense, saving finance teams even more time on the back end.
- Travel booking is just the beginning: Ramp’s unlimited free plan comes with our travel management solution, but you don’t have to use it to benefit from the platform. If you already have a corporate travel tool you’re happy with, you can still use Ramp’s full suite of financial tools on their own.
Pricing
Ramp offers an unlimited free tier with access to our most powerful expense management features, including our signature business travel management tool. For even more control, you can upgrade to Ramp Plus for $15 per user per month. Ramp also offers enterprise pricing on request—just reach out for a quote.
TravelPerk
TravelPerk simplifies corporate travel for mid-market and enterprise businesses by bringing a massive travel inventory into their platform. In doing so, TravelPerk reduces the hassle and headaches that often come with booking business travel under strict company guidelines.
Employees can compare various booking options from all over the internet in real time to find a suitable choice that falls within company policy and budget. Need help booking flights, car rentals, accommodations, or meeting rooms? Users have access to 24/7 customer support and concierge services to assist with every travel need.
TravelPerk offers companies flexibility in travel bookings, too: With FlexiPerk, you can receive an 80% refund on any travel plans booked through the software—no matter the reason for cancellation. And if your company already uses Ramp, you can integrate the two platforms for seamless expense tracking and greater savings on business travel.
Pricing
TravelPerk’s Starter plan comes with 5 free bookings per month, but after that, you’ll pay 5% per booking. TravelPerk also offers Premium, Pro, and Enterprise plans:
- Premium: $99 per month, plus 3% per booking
- Pro: $299 per month, plus 3% per booking for Pro
- Enterprise: Contact for details
Navan (formerly TripActions)
Formerly known as TripActions, Navan is another corporate travel booking tool that helps mid-market companies and enterprises manage their corporate travel plans in one place.
Fire up Navan’s online booking tool to book trips for employees, guests, or groups of up to 50 people. Then, use the software’s automatic receipt capture and advanced reporting for easy expense management and visibility into your company’s travel spending.
Whether your employees prefer DIY or personalized assistance, Navan offers self-serve tools and 24/7 customer support so they can easily manage their itinerary, even while on the go.
Pricing
Navan’s travel booking features are free for businesses of up to 200 employees, but its expense management features are free for just the first 5 users. Beyond that, Navan doesn’t publicly advertise its subscription costs, so you’ll need to get in touch with sales for a quote.
Tools to manage travel spending
Not all companies will need business travel management software with all the bells and whistles. Sometimes, a good expense management tool will suffice.
Without an efficient system to monitor and control travel spending, your company may be getting a poor return on your travel budget. Expense management solutions like Ramp and the ones we cover below help businesses track, control, and report on their travel expenses.
Spendesk
Not all businesses will need travel management software with all the bells and whistles. Sometimes, a good expense management tool will suffice. Spendesk’s expense management software is ideal for businesses of all sizes looking to monitor and control their spending.
Its 7-in-1 solution includes company credit cards, expense reporting, invoices, approvals, accounting automation, budgets, and reporting. Together, these offerings give your finance team visibility into your business spending while giving employees the flexibility they need to do their jobs.
You can also set up budgets and spending policies for Spendesk’s company cards beforehand so you can control and track all employee travel expenses in real time.
Pricing
Spendesk offers three different plans depending on your business needs and size. However, all pricing is quote-based, so you’ll need to schedule a demo with Spendesk’s sales team to try the software and get an idea of the cost.
BILL Spend & Expense (formerly Divvy)
BILL Spend & Expense (formerly Divvy) is another popular expense management platform used by small and mid-market businesses.
While BILL doesn’t have a dedicated travel management tool as part of its feature set, it still helps your finance team monitor T&E expenses and automate financial operations with tools like customizable spend controls and automatic expense categorization.
If employees make eligible purchases with BILL corporate cards, your company can also collect rewards points and redeem them for cashback, gift cards, statement credit, or travel.
Pricing
BILL Spend & Expense is free to use, provided you qualify for the BILL corporate card. Advanced features like AP/AR automation require a paid subscription.
Circula
Rounding out the expense management category is Circula, a solution that caters to companies with an international presence. Customers range from professional service providers and tech startups to large corporations.
Circula’s streamlined, user-friendly platform is designed with business travelers in mind. Employees get features like mobile-first UX, AI-powered receipt scanning, and Offline mode for submitting expenses without an internet connection—especially useful when employees are on the plane home.
Alternatively, travelers can use Assistant mode to allow others in their organization to submit travel expenses on their behalf.
Pricing
Circula offers three different pricing tiers:
- Starter: €10 per user per month
- Professional: €15 per user per month
- Professional Plus: Contact sales
Other helpful business travel tools
Corporate travel management can be a headache, but it doesn’t have to be. You can use the following tools to supplement your travel management software to make business travel more cost-effective for your company and more convenient for your employees.
Rocketrip
G2: 4.3 | Capterra: N/A
You can use Rocketrip alongside your existing business travel tool to reduce travel spend and reward employees who save the company money when booking trips.
Rocketrip’s algorithm uses the details of your travel program to create a “Price to Beat” and a list of cost-saving options when employees book their travel itinerary. Travelers who choose these alternatives receive 50% of the money saved for their personal use in Rocketrip’s Rewards Store or your company’s existing incentive program.
Pricing
Rocketrip doesn’t offer a free trial; you’ll have to contact sales for pricing.
TripIt
G2: 4.7 | Capterra: N/A
Think of TripIt as your company’s digital travel assistant. When employees send their trip confirmation emails to the platform’s designated email address, the app creates an itinerary based on the booking details. Travelers can also store PDFs, photos, QR codes, and other files in their accounts for easy access during business trips.
While TripIt’s free plan makes travel planning easier for employees on the go, the paid Pro plan comes with even more convenient features, like country-specific travel tools, terminal and gate reminders, and interactive airport maps.
Pricing
TripIt offers a free plan for most of its basic functionality. TripIt Pro costs $49 per year and comes with additional features like real-time flight alerts.
What to look for when choosing a business travel tool
Since every business is different, your organization’s travel management needs will look different from those of your competitors. With that said, the following six features should be table stakes:
1. Centralized finance workflows
A platform that handles travel booking, expense management, accounting, accounts payable, and more simplifies the finance operations for the entire organization. Employees can use a single app to manage T&E expenses, while finance teams gain greater control and visibility over the company’s spending.
2. User-friendly interface
The ideal software should make it easy for administrators and business travelers to book and manage trips. It should offer an intuitive user experience, a dedicated mobile app, and access to a wide range of transportation and accommodation options. Platforms with expense management automation features also reduce busywork for travelers and finance teams alike.
3. Travel policy compliance
Ideally, your business travel management software should include customizable corporate travel policies and automated approval workflows to cut out-of-policy spending. Integrated corporate cards are especially helpful here to set custom travel budgets, spend limits, and other restrictions.
4. Travel expense reporting and analytics
To reduce unnecessary spending, you need to know where to look. Software with real-time reporting and analytics capabilities can help you track business expenses across your entire company so you can identify trends and discover new ways to reduce spend.
5. Integrations
A connected ecosystem can reveal new insights and opportunities you wouldn’t have discovered otherwise. So, look for software that offers seamless integrations with your accounting provider, vendor management, HRIS, and more for better performance and greater efficiency.
6. 24/7 traveler support
Tools with round-the-clock support help reduce the stress involved with business travel planning and booking. This feature also gives travelers and their employers peace of mind if travel plans are disrupted.
Choose Ramp for integrated travel booking and expense management
Most travel management tools focus on streamlining travel booking or controlling travel spend. With Ramp’s end-to-end travel and expense management software, you can get both.
Because Ramp’s travel booking and expense reporting capabilities are fully integrated into one platform, managers and finance teams can easily monitor employee bookings and on-the-road expenses without switching between tools.
See how your company can manage business travel and T&E expenses more efficiently with Ramp Travel.
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