Companies with employees who travel frequently need to find the optimal routes, flights, accommodations, and schedules. A business travel consultant can be helpful in making all aspects of travel easier for executives, business owners, and other business travelers.

What is a Business Travel Consultant?

First of all, a business travel consultant is not a travel agent. Travel agents book flights, hotels, and other travel arrangements for clients. 

While a business travel consultant doesn’t actually do the booking, he or she has the expertise to help companies negotiate supplier point of sale discounts and ensure all business travel operations run smoothly.  A travel consultant helps you navigate all of the aspects of a travel program that strike the right balance between cost savings and traveler satisfaction.

Top Tasks Handled By Business Travel Consultants

Business travelers don’t have the same needs and objectives as people going on vacation or traveling for other reasons. A business travel consultant will research issues such as the following.

• Helping business travelers comply with company travel policy. For example, the traveler may need to book a certain class to get reimbursed for expenses.
• Ensuring that traveler information is shared with someone at the company. This has implications for traveler safety as well as company liability in the case of a world event, severe weather, or another unexpected event.
• Providing a link between business travelers and the travel management company (TMC) that the company may use for booking. It’s often advantageous for booking to be handled through a TMC rather than having people book directly. Direct or “uncaptured” bookings can result in missed opportunities for partnerships with airlines and hotels.
• Keeping up with the latest news and trends in the travel industry. Helping companies find the most beneficial travel partners to get the best prices and the most convenient arrangements for business travelers.
• A business travel consultant can help companies manage their travel policies, review vendor contracts, track travel expenses, and recommend the most beneficial arrangements.

The Kesselrun Business Travel Consulting Difference

When choosing any type of professional or expert, one of the top qualities to look for is experience. Kesselrun has been in business for over 20 years and is the oldest management consulting firm specializing in business travel. While we maintain valuable relationships with industry vendors such as TMCs, we remain objective and have no stake in the market supply chain. This is the big difference between us and the TMCs’ consulting branches. The companies we work with can be sure that our business travel consultants act solely in the interests of the company that engages us.

Our focus is on the issues that matter most to our clients: traveler satisfaction, cost savings, and getting the best possible ROI against our fees. Kesselrun business travel consultants will ask the appropriate questions and identify the solutions customized to the particular needs of your company’s travel program.

If you want to learn more about Kesselrun’s business travel consulting services, contact us online.