Write the policy before you book anything
A one-page policy — cabin class by flight duration, hotel ceilings by city, advance-booking windows, who approves exceptions — removes most of the friction that otherwise lands on your travel desk. Ambiguity is what generates the back-and-forth, not strictness.
Book earlier than feels necessary
Fares and rates on business routes move sharply inside the final fortnight. An advance-booking window written into policy, even a soft one, is usually the single largest saving available to a corporate programme, and it costs nothing to adopt.
Consolidate to one desk
When flights, hotels, transfers and insurance are arranged through separate channels, nobody holds the whole itinerary — so a delayed inbound flight becomes three phone calls. A single desk that sees the full trip can rebook the connection, hold the room and move the driver in one action.
Plan visas as part of the trip, not after it
Business visa lead times vary widely by destination and season, and they are the most common cause of a cancelled trip. Any destination that requires a visa should enter the calendar at the same time as the meeting, not once the flights are held.
Give travellers one number
A traveller who is delayed at midnight should not be deciding who to contact. One number, staffed outside office hours, in the traveller’s own language, resolves more disruptions than any amount of pre-trip documentation.
Review quarterly
Spend by route, advance-booking compliance and the reasons for exceptions tell you where the policy is wrong rather than where travellers are careless. Most programmes we take over have two or three routes that justify a negotiated rate nobody had asked for.