One of the biggest headaches facing companies in today’s highly-charged world of business travel is keeping tabs on employees’ travel expenditure.

The reservation process may be straight-forward, authorising an appointed business travel house to book flights, accommodation and car rental – the three key travel components. But it is normally the post-travel scenario that many companies can find daunting in managing and tracking the actual expenditure.

Waiting for invoices after each trip or waiting for expense claims from employees to tie-up with the completed journey can be time-consuming and frustrating.
Technology is playing an increasingly important role in the decision-making process of business travellers and their companies, helping cut down on a highly-intensive paper industry.
As business travel agencies have moved away from commission- based systems, largely due to the policies of travel suppliers, and introduced fee-based systems, it has paved the way for new entrants to handle the management of payment for the actual travel.

AirPlus International, one of Europe’s leading providers of travel management solutions working with over 16,000 companies worldwide, has developed a portfolio of products that help corporations manage their travel budget more effectively and simplify the payment system at the same time.
Earlier in October last year, AirPlus International joined forces with British Airways in order to launch a new product for corporate travel managers, the British Airways AirPlus Company Account, a centralised payment and billing system, which combines the benefits of their previously separate payment systems.

The partnership of AirPlus and British Airways has meant that companies can benefit from state of the art management information systems which will enable them to create improved customised reports for travel and entertainment expenses. Instead of receiving numerous invoices from their travel agent, all tickets are booked centrally and billed to the account. Each paper or electronic invoice, issued weekly, monthly or whatever time frame companies choose, details each transaction from the date of purchase and name of traveller to the name of the travel supplier and total cost.
The scenario is simple. Travel agents carry out the service of booking and issuing travel documents while the British Airways AirPlus Company Account takes over the billing, payment and invoicing. It invoices clients, who pay them and, in turn, British Airways AirPlus Company Account pays the travel supplier.

In Germany, where AirPlus International was launched 14 years ago, 88% of the country’s top 100 companies have an AirPlus account card making it the market leader in the field. And 200 of Western Europe’s 500 leading corporations have taken to AirPlus.
“The key benefit for the corporate is that they reduce costs, save time and are able to manage their travel budget much more effectively,” says Michael Wessel, Director Corporate Communications for AirPlus International.
“Most of the larger business travel agents can provide a standard suite of Management Information reports but we go a step further and provide software that allows companies to analyse their own flight data and create tailor-made reports.

“Agents traditionally send invoices to clients for every flight booked and ticketed, but we take over that process resulting in the company receiving one consolidated invoice and not one for every transaction. We take charge of invoicing periodically and issue detailed statements to help the corporate easily analyse whether travel policies are adhered to and provide a breakdown of the expenditure.”
The invoice is also tailored to include the cost centre responsible for an individual traveller within a large organisation so that centralised accounts can quickly and accurately apportion costs to the respective department.
What’s more, a unique benefit of the new British Airways AirPlus Company Account is that it will provide direct access to British Airways’ flown revenue data so that companies can track whether their tickets have been used, thereby speeding up the refund process and cutting down on the volume of unused tickets. In addition the company can also request that their travel agent bills any item of travel to this account including the agent’s service fee.

Using this system companies are able to negotiate from a position of strength with their travel industry suppliers, such as airlines and hotels as they have instant access to data on the budget spent with each partner.
Chris Vukelich, General Manager Global Distribution at British Airways believes that the new system represents a win-win situation for both British Airways and its corporate customers.

“We are working with AirPlus to provide a payment solution that makes it easier for our customers to manage their travel but which is also cost-effective for us. It is for this reason that we are able to provide the unique benefits such as flown data. Our intention is that this level of transparency with our corporate customers will result in efficiencies on both sides.”
“It is true that the international travel industry has faced a traumatic time recently, however at AirPlus International we have maintained our revenue levels over the last 12 months. We are hopeful that we will continue to grow our business in the forthcoming year as more corporates recognise the cost efficiencies to be gain by using our products for their business travel management. The co-operation with British Airways delivers a strategic long term partnership for AirPlus and is an excellent basis for the further growth of the company,” ended Wessel.

As companies increasingly recognise the need for closer management of their travel expenses, there can be no doubt that tools of this level of sophistication which support both supplier payment and analysis will be in high demand.