How to minimise your corporate travel spend without reducing engagement or impact.
When business leaders talk about reducing corporate travel costs, the conversation often turns quickly to cutting trips. But fewer meetings and fewer site visits can also mean fewer client conversations. For most Australian businesses, that is not a strategic solution.
Face-to-face engagement is still fundamental to developing and retaining valuable business relationships. It helps build trust, strengthens rapport, supports operational performance and drives business outcomes. The smarter opportunity is not to travel less, but how to travel better.
At our recent CTC Client Innovation Forum, a key topic of debate was how to identify and unlock savings within the travel program. Where do those hidden savings exist? And how can you unlock them without a complete program overhaul?
CT Connections CCO, Andre Moten says effective procurement must look beyond service fees to identify real savings opportunities.
“At best, service fees represent approximately 3% of the total cost of business travel. Today’s procurement professionals must consider the broader value delivered by TMCs; that is, how the TMC’s expertise, data and portfolio experience can reduce the 82% of travel spend through enhanced supplier negotiations and benchmarking, and the remaining 15% relating to the transaction process. This is where the meaningful savings exist.”
With the right travel data, program guidance and travel support in place, you can identify and act upon high value savings opportunities. Let’s explore how.
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5 tips to uncover savings in your business travel program
1. Domestic carrier choice
For many Australian businesses, domestic air travel is one of the most visible and controllable areas of business travel spend, typically accounting for around 70% of total travel spend.
At the CTC forum, our clients explored how alternative domestic carrier choices can deliver meaningful savings on core capital city routes. The data presented showed potential average ticket price savings of around 10% to 30% depending on route, carrier and travel pattern.
This does not mean forcing every traveller onto the cheapest fare every time. It means reviewing which routes your people travel most often, comparing carrier performance by route, and understanding where a different carrier choice could reduce spend without compromising reliability, safety or traveller experience.
A good travel management company should be supplier agnostic. Their role is not to push one airline over another. It is to help clients understand where savings exist, where they are practical, and where they align with the needs of the business.
2. Monday and Friday travel
Travel days matter to travel budgets. Monday and Friday are often the most expensive days to fly, particularly on high-demand domestic business routes.
During the forum, our team presented how shifting travel away from peak business travel days can create a relatively simple cost-saving opportunity. The discussion referenced potential average ticket price savings of around 16% to 18% by avoiding Monday and Friday travel where practical.
For many businesses, this won’t be practical for every trip. Some meetings, site requirements and client commitments are fixed. But even a partial shift in your meeting schedules can make a significant difference across a large travel program.
A practical approach is to:
- Review how much of your travel currently falls on Mondays and Fridays
- Identify which teams, routes or meeting types can facilitate mid-week travel
- Configure your travel policy and tools to optimise travel activity accordingly.
3. Day trips versus overnight stays
Accommodation costs can quickly turn a simple domestic trip into a much higher-cost activity.
The CTC forum explored the cost difference between day trips and overnight travel, using a simple example: a day trip costing around $550 compared with an overnight trip costing around $900.
The key message was not that overnight travel should be avoided altogether. Fatigue, safety, productivity and traveller wellbeing all matter, and for busy road warriors the additional cost of some creature comforts is often offset by improved wellness and increased productivity.
However, some overnight trips may be happening out of habit rather than need. If a business traveller leaves late in the morning and returns the next day around midday, there may be an opportunity to rethink the structure of the meeting, flight times or travel policy settings.
For procurement and finance leaders, this is a useful travel behaviour review. Use your travel data to identify the ratio of day trips to overnight trips across your business, then assess whether specific routes, departments or meeting types could be managed more cost-efficiently.
4. Accommodation rate caps
Hotel programs can be difficult to control because rates vary based on availability, demand, city events, room type and booking lead times.
Even where a preferred hotel rate has been negotiated, the actual rate paid may move above or below that amount depending on market conditions.
Setting accommodation rate caps by location gives businesses a clearer ceiling. It also gives finance and procurement teams more confidence around budget projections and cost control.
Rate caps do not need to be blunt or unrealistic. They should reflect market conditions, business requirements, safety considerations, traveller needs and the availability of suitable accommodation. And they should be regularly reviewed in line with market changes.
The key is to use your travel data. Which cities are performing over budget? Which hotels are driving the highest average daily rates? Which travellers or departments are regularly booking outside preferred booking channels? Where is demand driving rates above expectation?
These questions help turn accommodation spend from a reactive cost into a strategically managed category.
5. Advance booking behaviours
Advance booking is one of the most familiar travel savings levers, but it is still one of the most underused in business travel.
Late bookings limit airfare choice, reduce access to preferred accommodation rates and often push travellers into higher-cost options. The challenge is that advance booking behaviour is not just a policy issue, it is a business planning issue.
The CTC forum highlighted how accommodation rate caps can help influence earlier booking behaviour. If travellers know there is a ceiling on the accommodation rate they can book, they are more likely to plan ahead to secure their preferred hotel within policy.
A practical savings checklist for your business travel program
If your business is looking to reduce its corporate travel budget, start by asking these questions.
| Savings area | Questions to ask |
|---|---|
| Domestic carrier choice |
|
| Travel days |
|
| Day trips vs overnight stays |
|
| Advance booking |
|
| Accommodation rate caps |
|
| Data and reporting |
|
| Policy alignment |
|
Reducing business travel spend does not have to mean reducing travel value
For Australian businesses, travel remains an important investment. The goal is not to make travel management harder. It is to make travel spend more visible, more intentional and more closely aligned to business outcomes.
CT Connections’ Regional General Manager, Craig Southee explains, “The biggest savings in a travel program rarely come from the lowest transaction fee. They come from the quality of the strategy behind it. Don’t just compare pricing – challenge your travel management company to demonstrate how they will influence traveller behaviour, optimise supplier performance and drive measurable cost reductions across your travel program. That’s where the real value lies”.
With better reporting, practical policy settings and expert support from an experienced travel management partner, businesses can often reduce corporate travel costs while maintaining the same level of travel activity.
At CT Connections, our business travel experts work closely with clients every day to identifying savings opportunities, test realistic scenarios and help businesses make smarter decisions without compromising the relationships, operations and commercial outcomes that their business travel supports.
Time to uncover hidden savings in your travel program?
Book a call with a CT Connections travel expert today and take a tour of our ConnXus Intelligence reporting tool.
FAQs
How can businesses reduce corporate travel costs without travelling less?
Reducing business travel doesn’t have to mean cancelling trips. Many organisations achieve meaningful savings by improving travel behaviours, including booking earlier, reviewing domestic airline choices, travelling mid-week where practical, optimising accommodation policies and using travel data to identify inefficient spending. A travel management company can help identify these opportunities while maintaining the same level of business travel.
How often should a business review its travel program?
Most organisations should review travel performance at least quarterly. Regular reviews help identify changing travel patterns, supplier opportunities, policy compliance and emerging cost pressures before they become significant budget issues.
What role does a travel management company play in travel cost optimisation?
Beyond booking travel, a travel management company provides strategic advice, reporting, supplier insights and policy recommendations. Their role is to help businesses balance cost control, traveller experience, risk management and operational efficiency while supporting business objectives.
What travel data should my business monitor to reduce costs?
Useful metrics include:
- Average booking lead times
- Average airfare by route
- Hotel average daily rate
- Travel spend by department
- Preferred supplier utilisation
- Policy compliance
- Overnight versus day-trip ratios
- Booking channel usage
These insights help businesses identify trends and make informed decisions.
Is a preferred airline agreement more cost effective than an open skies policy?
There is no single answer. It depends on your travel patterns, routes, booking behaviours and commercial agreements. The best approach is to use your travel data to compare average ticket prices, traveller experience, reliability and total trip costs across your most frequently travelled routes. An experienced travel management company can help analyse this data and determine whether a preferred carrier strategy, an open skies policy, or a hybrid approach will deliver the greatest long-term value for your business.
Why is advance booking so important for business travel?
Booking flights and accommodation earlier generally provides access to lower fares, greater hotel availability and more choice. Late bookings often result in higher costs and reduced flexibility. Encouraging earlier booking behaviours is one of the simplest ways to improve travel budget performance.
