Business travel has gone down in the past year, and it is really not a surprise. With the costs of everything going up, businesses have been looking for ways to cut their costs. Naturally, business travel is one of those to suffer. Luckily, communications technology has advanced such that one can do without business travel in many cases. However, there are still times when traveling for business cannot be avoided. And in these cases, you need to be smart about it in order to keep your costs to the bare minimum. Here are some tips which could help you save on business trips.
Wait if possible.
Is it absolutely necessary to purchase your airplane tickets now? If not, then you might want to wait for a while. Even though this might go against common sense – the early bird gets the worm and all that – waiting till almost the last minute can give rewards. This is because travel agencies and similar establishments often give huge last minute discounts to get rid of their inventory. This, of course, will be to your advantage.
Get rid of the middlemen.
If you do not have contractual agreements with travel agencies, why not consider buying directly from the airlines? There are many budget airlines that fly to many major cities now. You can save a lot of money by booking with them directly rather than using a travel agent. While it may take up more of your time, you will certainly make huge savings in money.
(to be continued)
Originally posted on May 4, 2011 @ 10:23 am