Creating Your First Managed Travel Program: A Step-by-Step Guide

For many growing companies, the transition from an "unmanaged" to a "managed" travel program is a pivotal moment. In the early days, it's common for employees to book their own travel on consumer websites, pay with personal credit cards, and submit a jumble of receipts for reimbursement. This approach, while simple at first, quickly becomes chaotic, inefficient, and expensive as the company scales. A lack of visibility, zero policy enforcement, and a heavy administrative burden on the finance team are all symptoms of an unmanaged program.

Creating your first managed travel program is about taking control. It's about implementing a strategic framework, a combination of policy, technology, and process, to manage your company's travel spend, ensure the safety of your employees, and streamline operations. This transition can seem daunting, but by following a clear, step-by-step process, you can build a program that delivers significant value from day one.

This guide provides a practical roadmap for creating your first managed travel program.

Step 1: Understand Your Current State and Define Your Goals

Before you can build a new program, you need a clear picture of what you're doing now.

Gather Your Data (As Best You Can): This is the hardest part of an unmanaged program. Comb through expense reports, credit card statements, and invoices to get a rough estimate of your total annual travel spend. Identify your top travelers, most frequent destinations, and most-used airlines and hotels. Even if the data is messy, this initial analysis is crucial.
Identify the Pain Points: Talk to your stakeholders.
- Finance: What are their biggest frustrations? Is it the lack of visibility into spend? The time it takes to process expense reports?
- Travelers: What are their challenges? Do they find it hard to know what they're allowed to spend? Is the reimbursement process too slow?
- Admins/Executive Assistants: How much time are they spending on manual booking tasks?
Set Clear Goals: Based on your findings, define what you want to achieve. Your primary goals might be:
- Goal 1: Cost Savings. Reduce total travel spend by 15% in the first year.
- Goal 2: Efficiency. Cut the time spent on expense report processing by 50%.
- Goal 3: Duty of Care. Implement a system for tracking all traveling employees in real time.

Step 2: Create Your First Corporate Travel Policy

A formal travel policy is the foundation of your managed program. It does not need to be perfect, but it needs to be clear, simple, and written down.

Start with the Essentials: Your V1.0 policy should cover the critical areas:
- Booking: Mandate that all travel must now be booked through a single, company-approved method.
- Approvals: Require pre-trip approval from a manager for all travel.
- Air Travel: Specify economy class for all flights.
- Hotels: Set a reasonable per-night spending cap.
- Expenses: Require itemized receipts for expenses over a certain amount (e.g., $50).
Keep it Simple: Your first policy should be easy to understand. A simple, 2-page document is better than a 30-page tome that no one will read.

Step 3: Select a Travel Management Platform

Technology is the engine that will power your managed program. Relying on manual processes is not a scalable solution. You need a travel management software platform.

Look for an Integrated Solution: The most effective platforms, like Routespring, combine a user-friendly online booking tool with integrated policy enforcement, approval workflows, and expense management. This creates a seamless, end-to-end experience.
Prioritize User Experience: If the platform is clunky and hard to use, your employees will not adopt it, and you'll be back to square one with "rogue" bookings. Choose a tool that is as intuitive and easy to use as a consumer travel site.
Consider Centralized Payments: A platform that can centralize payments for flights and hotels will be a game-changer for your finance team, as it dramatically reduces the need for expense reports and reimbursements.

Step 4: Develop a Communication and Rollout Plan

A successful launch is critical for adoption and buy-in.

Executive Sponsorship: Get an executive leader to champion the new program. When the message comes from the top, it carries more weight.
Clear Communication: Announce the new program and policy well in advance. Explain why the company is making this change, focusing on the benefits for everyone: more clarity and faster reimbursements for travelers, better control for managers, and efficiency for finance.
Provide Training: Host short, practical training sessions to show employees how to use the new booking tool and follow the new process. Record the session for new hires. Create a simple one-page "quick start" guide.
Set a "Go-Live" Date: Be firm. Example: "As of October 1st, all business travel must be booked through the new Routespring platform. Travel booked on other websites will no longer be eligible for reimbursement."

Step 5: Monitor, Get Feedback, and Iterate

Your travel program is not a "set it and forget it" project.

Track Your KPIs: Use your new platform's reporting dashboard to track your progress against the goals you set in Step 1. Are you seeing a reduction in your average ticket price? Is the advance booking window increasing?
Solicit Feedback: After the first few months, survey your travelers and managers. What's working well? What are the remaining friction points?
Refine Your Policy: Use the data and feedback to make informed adjustments. Perhaps the hotel cap for New York is too low, or the approval process for a specific team is too slow. Make small, iterative improvements to optimize the program over time.

Moving from an unmanaged to a managed travel program is one of the most impactful strategic decisions a growing company can make. It delivers hard-dollar savings, creates significant operational efficiencies, and provides a crucial safety net for your traveling employees. By following these steps, you can build a program that is professional, scalable, and a true asset to your business.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. We're a small company. At what point do we need a managed travel program? There's no magic number, but a common trigger is when you can no longer easily track your travel spend or when your finance team/administrator is spending a significant amount of time on travel-related tasks. If you're spending more than $100,000 annually on travel, or have more than 10-15 frequent travelers, you will almost certainly see a positive ROI from a managed program.

2. How much does a travel management platform cost? Pricing models vary. Some TMCs charge a per-trip booking fee. Others, particularly more modern platforms, have moved to a subscription-based model (SaaS). Routespring, for example, offers different pricing tiers based on your needs, including a free plan to get started, making it accessible for companies of all sizes.

3. How do we get our employees to use the new platform? The key is to make it the path of least resistance. Choose a platform that is incredibly easy to use. Combine this with a firm policy mandate from leadership and clear communication about the benefits (like faster reimbursements and better support).

4. What's the difference between a travel management platform and just using a travel agent? A traditional travel agent is primarily a booking service. A travel management platform is a comprehensive technology solution that provides not just booking capabilities but also policy automation, approval workflows, risk management features, and data analytics. A modern Travel Management Company (TMC) combines the best of both: a powerful software platform backed by expert human agents for complex trips and 24/7 support.

5. How long does it take to implement a managed travel program? With a modern, cloud-based platform, the technical implementation can be surprisingly fast. You can often be up and running in a matter of days or weeks, not months. The most time-consuming part is often the internal process of agreeing upon and writing down your first travel policy.