For SME business travellers, claiming travel expenses once you’ve returned home has a significant impact on the overall cost of corporate travel activities. Correctly claiming travel costs ensures that your expenses are attributed to your business and not your own pocket. It also means you won’t have to waste time with the ATO when tax time rolls around.

Here are 4 tips that will help you claim corporate travel expenses properly the first time.

1. Keep an organised record of all your receipts

This one might seem like a no-brainer for all business expenses, but it’s extremely important to keep receipts from not only your large purchases such as flights and accommodation, but also smaller expenses such as food, ground transport and expenses which are incidental to your individual travel situation.

The ATO states that corporate travellers who are away for less than 6 nights in a row don’t need to keep receipts unless their travel allowance exceeds the Commissioner’s reasonable travel allowance limits. We believe that keeping a detailed record of receipts should be a matter of habit for any business traveller, regardless of the length of your business trip.

2. Keep a diary of your meetings and engagements

The key for SMEs when claiming travel expenses as tax deductions is whether or not the trip was necessary to the business for earning an income. It’s important to be able to prove a link between your travel expenses and earning business income. The easiest way to do this is to keep a detailed diary of your engagements while you’re away. Include information like meeting dates and times, locations, who you met, and the nature of your activities. Click here to get a free business travel diary template that we’ve put together for you.

3. Be clear about your business role and objectives whilst travelling

The role you play within your business can impact what you can and cannot claim as travel expenses. If you are on a roadshow to research new equipment, for example, this would not be assessed as tax deductible as your research is not directly related to business earnings. If, however, you are travelling to a trade or consumer expo as an exhibitor, this would be considered tax deductible[1].

 4. It’s fine to mix business with pleasure, but don’t claim your holiday time as part of your business trip

If you’ve travelled predominantly for business purposes but have chosen to add some leisure time onto the beginning or end of your trip, it would be unwise to try and claim expenses incurred during this time as tax deductible business expenses. You can still claim the business-related period of your travels, but you need to clearly indicate at which point the work stops and the fun starts!

Detailed expense reporting is a vital component of your business travel. As part of its services, a good corporate travel management provider will do the leg-work for you in this area. They’ll generate comprehensive records and reports of your business travel spend, allowing you to easily manage your expenditure and relevant paperwork.

To find out more about how you can improve your travel expense reporting, contact us today.

[1] For more info on tip number 3, check out this video from the Australian Tax Office. (Video link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO7g22XroLk)

1. Charge all your electronics before you start travelling

No matter how well you prepare for your business travel, once you leave your place and begin your journey to the airport, you lose a good deal of control. You’re at the mercy of traffic, bad weather, unforeseen international events and flight cancellations. If something unfortunate happens that causes a delay to your journey, you have no way of knowing when you’ll next have access to a power point and a bit of charge-time.  One thing you CAN control is remembering to fully charge your laptop, smartphones and tablets the night before you leave so that the tools of your trade have the maximum battery power stored from the get-go.

2. Don’t forget the adaptors!

Keeping on the subject of power, packing all the charge-cables in the world is useless if you arrive at your destination and notice that all the power points are different. It saves a good deal of frustration to do a quick google search of your destination to see which power sockets are used at your destination(s). Overseas power adaptors can be purchased from most electronics stores and at the airport.

3. Factor in your ground transport time

Always allocate time to get to the airport, check in your luggage and pass through security checkpoints. This tip is especially important if you’re travelling to the airport during peak hour or your flight is taking off during a busy period of the day. If you’re travelling to a destination for the first time or using a new hotel, think about how long it may take you to find ground transport and get to your accommodation once you land. Then add another 20-30 minutes onto your estimated travel time (just to be safe). To minimise the time it takes to arrange ground transport and travel to/from the airports, consider organising your ground transport requirements before you begin your journey.

4. Keep emergency underwear and essential toiletries in your carry-on

No one ever plans to lose their luggage, and unfortunately, you only find out once you reach your destination. You won’t get caught with your pants down…but you may end up with no spare pants at all. To ensure that you can still function if your bag gets lost during transit, always pack your valuables, chargers, important business documents, spare socks and underwear, and basic toiletries in your carry-on. If you have room, be ultra-prepared and throw a spare set of business clothes in as well.

5. There’s ALWAYS a reason to pack plastic bags

It may not be the first thing on every corporate traveller’s packing list, but there’s always a reason to remember plastic bags. Whether it be muddy shoes, damp swimmers, a leaky perfume bottle or soiled linen, one wet or smelly item placed in your suitcase is almost guaranteed to ruin everything else that’s in there. Having a small stockpile of plastic bags with you means you can separate messy items from your clean clothes and contain the damage while you’re on the road.

Think we’ve missed something? Write to us on Facebook with your best business travel tips, or contact us today to find out more about approaching your corporate travel like a seasoned veteran. 

The two most significant elements of any business’ corporate travel spend is usually airfares and accommodation. Most large corporations have preferred suppliers for these products and services with whom they have negotiated corporate discounts based on a high level annual spend.

For the average Australian SME who doesn’t think they have a large enough annual travel spend to negotiate an ongoing corporate discount arrangement, choices in where, how and who you purchase accommodation with can have a significant impact on your overall spend on business travel.

So how can SMEs minimise the cost of accommodation to ensure they’re getting the best value room rates?

To begin the process of minimising your accommodation costs when travelling for business, ask yourself these three (surprisingly simple) questions:

When do you book accommodation?

Booking your business travel arrangements in advance instead of last minute can have a huge impact on the price you pay for accommodation. In a market where prices for a hotel room can change dramatically based on room availability, it will always cost you less to book your accommodation well in advance. In short, if you know when, where and for how long you are travelling on your next business trip, save yourself some money and book your accommodation at the first available opportunity.

How do you book accommodation?

The methods and channels through which you make your accommodation bookings can also have a significant impact on the end price. There are many avenues you can take to securing your accommodation, from booking through online tools, to engaging a corporate travel management firm who will make the booking for you, to contacting your preferred supplier directly. Be aware that the path you choose may impact the price you end up paying.

This element is especially important to consider if you, like one third of all corporate travellers, amend your hotel booking before arrival. If you book your room online, for example, you may feel like you’re winning in the short term. Often however, the cheap rates advertised through online agencies are non-changeable and non-refundable, so if business plans change you’ll be unable to amend the initial booking and may lose the whole amount you paid.

Who do you book accommodation with?

Next time you book a hotel room for a business trip ask yourself, who am I actually booking with and what path is my money following?

Different agents and providers will have different arrangements with suppliers and this will alter the room-rate that they can offer you. At this point it would be easy to say, “Well then I’ll just go directly to the source and book with the supplier.” That’s all well and good, but you are just one individual, and if your business doesn’t have a corporate discount arrangement, then they have no reason to offer you the lowest price possible.

This is where corporate travel managers can come in handy. Because of the nature of their work, corporate travel managers often have ongoing relationships with accommodation suppliers which have been built over many years, so they have access to more options and better room rates. Engaging a corporate travel manager will give you access to the deals that they have taken years to procure.

Next time you or someone in your business needs to book accommodation for an upcoming business trip, ask yourself these fundamental questions. You’d be surprised by how much money you can save with a quick review of your business accommodation booking practices and policies. If you’d like some help with this review from a professional, or to simply find out more about corporate accommodation booking contact us today for more information.

The Search

The first step for most SMEs when making business travel arrangements is the search tab in their internet browser. A recent study by Google into the traveller’s road to decision indicates that around 69% of business travellers begin researching online before deciding where or how they want to travel.

The point of online research is of course to find the best possible deals on flights, accommodation and ground transport in order to minimise the cost and maximise the efficiency of your business trip. But are you actually achieving these outcomes?

The Cost Saving Myth

There is a commonly held belief among many SMEs that you can get the best prices by using the internet to book directly with airlines, hotels and ground transport providers. This process, however, takes time – a resource that is not only precious but often unaccounted for as an expense. Regardless of who’s tasked with making the travel arrangements, it can take hours or even days to comb the web for the best rates available.

The Booking Process Time

On average, it takes anywhere between 5 to 15hrs to complete the booking process starting from search all the way to post-booking amendments. Now take a second and multiple the number of hours by $20 (the average receptionist wage in Australia)

We hate to be the barer of bad news but yes, you are paying at least $100 more than you think per trip. The longer and more complex your itinerary, the more time it takes to complete the buying process and the larger your additional cost will be.

The Solution

The reality is, business travel booking is a process and does take time. Travel agencies still have to do the same work. However, they have the knowledge and resources to quickly sift through details – and they do it on their time, not yours!

If you factor in the extra time and money it takes to make last-minute changes to business travel arrangements, it can often end up costing more to do it yourself than it would to engage abusiness travel specialist.

You’ll still get the best rates on things like airfares and hotel rooms, you just won’t have to find them yourself. This saves you time and time=money if you’re at work. If you’re at home, it’s even worse because time now equals precious family moments!

A corporate travel specialist will help you to consolidate your different travel requirements so that details of your air travel, accommodation, ground transport and any other services you may require can all be found in one place. They also provide a single point of contact for you and any other travellers within your business in case of an emergency or if you need support while you’re away. That’s right, no more waiting on hold with an airline for 2 hours after your flight has been unexpectedly cancelled.

Keep in mind that corporate travel management providers also have established relationships with airlines, hotel chains and ground transportation companies, so there is every chance that they will be able to use their connections to get you a better deal than you would have found on the internet anyway.

If you feel like you spend too much time staring at airfare and accommodation booking pages,  contact us today to find out how you can get that time back.

There’s a good chance you’re reading this because you own, operate or are employed by an SME and you engage in some form of business travel. If this sounds like you, you may be asking yourself why do SMEs have such high comparative expenses when it comes to business travel? Furthermore, what can SMEs do to reduce costs?

According to the SME Association of Australia, 97% of actively trading businesses in Australia are SMEs. On top of that, SMEs employ roughly 70% of the Australian workforce.

As an SME, your business and its offerings are valuable and unique. We believe the solution to your travel management needs is just as unique, and that’s how your business travel should be approached.

Let’s look at one of the key issues stopping SMEs from reducing costs

Business travel these days is predominantly referred to as Corporate Travel. Businesses who frequently engage in corporate travel often minimise expenses by engaging a corporate travel management firm. But what if you’re not a corporation? What if you don’t travel as frequently as a corporation? What if you don’t spend $5 million per year on travel expenses?

In an industry which houses the word ‘corporate’ in its name, it can be a bit daunting to engage corporate travel services if you don’t consider yourself a large ‘corporation’. The problem is corporate travel providers are designed to deliver services that reduce costs. Granted some do a better job than others but we don’t want you to give up if you don’t wish to outsource this service.

We’re dedicating our blog to helping Australian SMEs get the best possible value out of their business travel spend, whether that be through reducing costs or increasing your efficiency to achieve more valuable outcomes.

We’ll be covering travel topics such as:

• Travel reward and loyalty programmes
• Accommodation and ground transport
• Claiming travel expenses once you’ve returned home
• Leisure travel – saving on holidays once the business trips are over

To kick things off next week we’ll be taking a look at the travel research and buying process, including how SMEs can maximise that most valuable of resources – time.

If you’d like to know more, contact us directly for additional information on how Australian SMEs can reduce the cost of their business travel.

It’s been a month since we launched our new Online Booking System and we’d like to share some case studies that we think you might find helpful … especially when you see how much our clients saved simply by using the new system!

Flights Case Study

Objective

Book a flight on Etihad Airways from Sydney to Cairo 3 days prior to travel in June

Situation

With a last minute booking, the best price the client could obtain from travel agents was $2,300.

Outcome

Through our new online system, we delivered a $500 saving for our new client. The only difference between the two flights was an additional stopover that added 1 extra hour to the whole journey.

Car Hire Case Study

Objective

Hire a car for 5 days in London for July.

Situation

After shopping directly on major car hire websites and getting a quote from one travel agent, the best rate obtained for was £700 for a VW Passat Sedan.

Outcome

Through our new system, we delivered a £440 saving (approx $770) for our client. The only difference was the client was able to get this significantly cheaper rate for an A-Class Mercedes Benz instead. A trade-off he was happy with to say the least.

But most importantly for you …

Not only does our new system provide great value, our award-winning customer service team is still here for you when you need offline support.

Click here to try our new Online Booking System, and bookmark our site today for next time you need to book travel!

It doesn’t matter whether you’re on a business trip or a holiday, public wifi networks can be a godsend when it comes to accessing the internet on your smartphone without incurring those outrageously expensive overseas data-roaming charges.

But while finding a free public wifi network while travelling can feel akin to finding an oasis when you’re lost in the desert, it’s important to recognize that open wifi networks, especially in large public spaces like airports or shopping centres, can be incredibly vulnerable to hackers who are looking to steal sensitive personal data from unsuspecting users.

Why is this so you ask? Well, the same thing that makes public wifi so useful also makes them dangerous – they are insecure, open and available to anyone. Generally when you use your wifi network at home or in the office, your network traffic and online activity is protected from unwanted eyes by encryption technology which works based on your network password.

The same goes for hotel wifi networks which are available to guests but are protected by a pass code based on either your guest details or a daily code-change. When you connect to a wifi network in an airport, shopping centre or coffee shop, these networks are often unencrypted and do not require password entry for usage, leaving them vulnerable to snooping by opportunistic hackers and data thieves.

In these situations any tech-savvy cyber cowboy can view every unencrypted web page you’re viewing at the same time as you are. Even if the network IS password protected, it’s most likely a shared password which can easily be obtained by asking nicely at the information desk. We know, quite a scary thought isn’t it.
There are plenty of other good reasons why using sensitive data on a public wifi network is a dangerous road to travel, but we don’t want to bore you by getting too ‘techy’. Instead, here’s a quick list of things you should NEVER do while using a public wifi network.

1.  Online banking or shopping
2. Reading or sending sensitive work emails
3. Opening sensitive attachments within email
4. Accessing cloud storage application which contain sensitive information
5. Entering sensitive information which gives details of your identity (passport details, driver’s license information, credit card information, health care information)
6. Logging into work servers and/or systems remotely

Think we’ve missed something? Why not write to us on Facebook, we’d love to hear your feedback! Alternatively if you’d like to discuss ways to improve your business travel activities, contact us today.

You’re no longer on your own when you book online.

With JC Travel Professionals, you can rest assured that our offline award-winning customer service is still available when you book online. Just visit the contact us page clearly located in the top right hand corner.

What’s more, for contracted SME’s, non-profit organisations, sporting organisations and other corporates, we offer white label versions of our booking tool that incorporate your destination requirements and your contracted pricing.

For larger corporates, our premium booking tool also offers the ability to dynamically enforce your corporate travel policy at an individual traveller level.

About our Online Booking System

You can go online anytime, compare rates and tailor your own itinerary. You can contact us if there are any issues, or if you’re stuck. You can book airfares, accommodation, travel insurance, car hire, motorhome and cruises all on one website!

You can say goodbye to biased search results. With JC Travel Professionals, you are shown whatever airfares and flights are available. We don’t internally filter out certain airlines or intentionally promote certain airfares.

Service Highlights

Flights
Our international flights are highly competitive because we don’t have any biased algorithms that favours certain airlines over others, as is often the case with online booking websites.
Hotels
With a global range, you can shop by city, location or even landmark for some of the lowest prices in the market, and for last minute deals for a broad range of property types (hostels to luxury 5 star resorts).
Car Hire
Our system searches for local specials as well as standard rates for all primary and many secondary car hire companies, to deliver some of the lowest rates in the industry.
Cruises
Forget the “enquire button.” With our system, you can book many cruises instantly at very competitive prices, and including last minute specials!
Motorhome
Why not explore your destination in style? Choose from a variety of sizes in thirty countries!
Insurance
Our tool allows practically any nationality to obtain travel insurance to any country at a highly competitive price.

Bookmark our site now so when you need to book online, you know you won’t be on your own.

If you ask most small business owners “what’s the one thing you want more of?” you’re likely to find that most people give the same answer – time. No matter how long you choose to spend at work, with your family, or even sleeping there are still only 24 hours in each day.

It’s issues regarding time, or lack thereof, that also present the most significant concerns for SME business owners when it comes to business travel activity. Not only do you need to spend days, weeks or maybe even months in a different physical location to your business, but you also need to take time before departing to prepare yourself for your trip and prepare your business for your absence. And to think that we haven’t even mentioned the time you’ll need to book your transport and accommodation or organise your itinerary yet.

Luckily, when it comes to preparing for your business trip and making your travel arrangements, engaging a corporate travel management firm can play a vital role in helping you use your time as efficiently as possible so that your time is spent preparing yourself and your staff for your trip, not preparing your itinerary.

Here are some of the ways your corporate travel manager can help you ‘wind back the clock’ and maximise the efficiency of your business travel prep:

Single point of contact

Whether it be through a customized online booking system or a dedicated account manager, having a single point of contact for all your corporate travel needs ensures that you don’t need to waste time dealing with multiple different companies to arrange your ground transport, flights, accommodation and car hire bookings.

Furthermore, if you experience a setback or require assistance once you’ve begun your travels, having a single point of contact eliminates the possibility of you having to spend hours on hold with different airlines, hotels and car hire companies in the event that you need to change your travel plans.

Knowledge and expertise

We all know how easy it can be to get lost in a sea of ‘deals’, ‘savings’ and ‘coupon codes’ when using online comparison sights to search for the best airfare or accommodation deals. You begin your journey on one webpage, then before you know it you’ve lost 3 hours of your afternoon and are on a completely different website to the one where you began. And you have even booked your hotel rooms yet.

The great thing about corporate travel managers is that they already know where to look to get the best deals for you based on your preferences, where you need to go and how long you’re staying for. Even if they need to spend a little time searching themselves, that’s their job and they’re great at what they do, so chances are good that they’ll be able to do it a lot faster than you could. Having the knowledge and expertise that comes with years of experience can make the travel booking process faster, more efficient and more cost effective for you and your organisation.

 Holding tickets and handling charge backs

Due to the nature of their work, corporate travel managers often have relationships with industry partners that have been built over years and countless phone calls and meetings. Whether they be with certain hotel chains, airlines or even credit card companies, taking advantage of the professional relationships that your corporate travel manager has taken years to establish can save you huge amounts of time when it comes to doing things like putting paid travel tickets on hold or handling a credit card charge-back.

Saving time when it comes to business travel preparation comes down to recognising what is important that you do yourself and what can be handled by an extra set of hands. If you find that you’re constantly short of time when you’re preparing to embark on a business trip, consider sitting down for a coffee with a corporate travel manager to discuss ways that you can boost the efficiency of your corporate travel activity. If you’d like to know more, or simply to arrange a chat, contact us today!