Imagine waking up to news headlines that war has erupted, a political crisis has ensued, or a newly identified virus has begun to rapidly spread. As your organization's appointed travel manager, would you be scratching your head, wondering if you have employees in the affected region, or would a quick check of your travel aggregator let you know exactly where your travelers are?
Travel Aggregators: Total Trip Visibility on One Platform
If you fall into the uncertainty category, you are not alone. Many small to medium businesses do not have proper risk management and data aggregation tools at their disposal to know exactly where every one of your travelers are. Fortunately, travel aggregators offer easy-to-implement solutions for companies of all sizes; you don’t have to be on the Fortune 500 list to afford effective travel management
Essentially, a travel aggregator provides the visibility you need into your travelers' whereabouts, combining all booked travel data into one easy-to-use platform, eliminating travel and expense data blind spots.
Benefits of Travel Data Aggregation Tools
In today’s ever-changing environment, You must have a pulse on where your business travelers are and where they are planning to go. With a travel aggregator, you gain the ability to combine data from your travel management company, supplier-direct bookings, and OTA sites; you can confidently locate your travelers and review any upcoming travel expenditures — related to airlines, hotels, car rentals, ride-sharing, and more — before they hit expense reports. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Take Control of Your Business Travel Data
Travel aggregators eliminate travel blind spots, giving you control over what you’ve been missing by only relying on post-trip expense reporting and corporate credit card reconciliation. And you can wave goodbye to manually logging into multiple supplier portals every month to download reports and then going through the painstaking process of data mining, data correction, and data aggregation to land on a single report for each travel segment; unlike an online travel agency or travel supplier, a good travel aggregator lets you keep track of employee travel before, during, and after their trip.
Lead Times or Real-Time
Travel segment lead times could vary drastically based on your company’s travel policy and your travelers' typical booking behavior. Regardless of your organization’s specific process, there are constant specifics that almost always have to be accounted for when your personnel are booking a trip.
- If you require your travelers to book airfare 14+ days in advance, they could be booking their airfare a month or two before departure.
- The next segment is accommodations, which may or may not be booked through the same channel as airfare. For travelers who are attending a conference or large meeting, they may be booking through a conference block.
- Next, if a car, limousine, or train service is needed, these segments may be booked much closer to the departure date of the trip — if not during the trip itself.
- Lastly, ride-shares happen as the trips unfold. This data is typically tracked directly through the ride-sharing company. For Uber and Lyft, you may have a business profile established, granting you access to their reporting tools. However, gathering this information post-trip means you don’t always have a pulse on your travelers’ locations.
Travel aggregators can seamlessly pull all the fragmented data points together into one platform. Some aggregators, like Traxo, use this unified data source to easily display your travel data in real-time, as opposed to waiting for expense reports and then manually compiling reports.
Other Benefits of Travel Data Aggregation Tools
Whether your travelers are planning a trip, in the middle of one, or coming home, travel aggregators give managers simple, visible, and standardized reporting to help them easily manage business travel data. Aggregation tools provide almost-instant access to trip details booked by your travelers, regardless of the booking channel.
If your aggregator offers real-time visibility, travel managers and organizations are given a window of opportunity to course-correct traveler behavior before it's too late and realized on an expense report. This advantage allows you to focus on traveler education related to your preferred suppliers, travel policy, and program.
Identifying misspending before the trip departure date allows you to realize savings by adjusting the trip to comply. Lastly, you can ensure the following:
- Travelers are aware of any potential risks at their destination
- Travelers well-versed in your emergency procedures
- Itineraries are sent to your duty of care provider for great oversight and risk management
Traxo — The Real-Time Aggregator for Everyone
Whether your travel program is small or large, Traxo can provide the data aggregation and auditing required to run a safe and efficient program. Our industry-leading platform is designed to work with the travel tools you’re already using, making implementation and integration quick and seamless. And our platform provides updates in real-time, making it easy to check where your travelers are at any time.
To learn more, schedule a quick exploratory call with a Traxo team member by filling out the form below.
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