The Ultimate Guide to Corporate Travel Management for Business Owners in Singapore

Business travel allows your employees to network with colleagues, meet clients face-to-face, discover new markets, explore possible collaborations and more. Work travel opportunities have also been shown to have a positive impact on employees’ well-being.¹

Despite the benefits, keeping tabs on the nitty gritty's of corporate travel can become a complex task for businesses without the right system in place.

This guide will lay out some best practices to help you shape your corporate travel management framework. We'll also review some popular travel management software and expense management solutions you can use to make business travel management less of a headache.

Table of contents
What is corporate travel management? Common difficulties faced in managing corporate travel Common travel management solutions and tools Booking sites Travel agencies Expense management tools Travel management tools Best practices for managing business travel effectively

What is corporate travel management?

Corporate travel management encompasses the system and processes that allow your company to manage various aspects of business travel.

This includes everything from trip planning, booking, expense tracking, down to travel support, approvals and compliance.

An effective travel management system ensures that your employees can confidently organise essential corporate travel plans. This allows them to focus on achieving key business objectives on every business trip.

Who manages corporate travel in a company?

A Travel Manager or a Corporate Travel Management Team should manage the logistics of arranging for business trips and handling expenses logging and reimbursements.

This will take the pressure off from both the finance department and employees who are travelling.

That said, most businesses in Singapore may not have dedicated travel management personnel. As such, the travel-related administrative work would usually be shared amongst:

• Team Manager and / or Human Resources (HR): Approval of business trips, Business travel compliance procedures, Travel support, Expense tracking
• Administration or Individual staff: Trip booking
• Finance: Budget approvals, Expense reimbursements

Common difficulties faced in managing corporate travel

Regardless whether you decide to outsource your corporate travel management or handle it in-house, you should take note of the following challenges.

Tracking Approvals

In small businesses, this can be easily managed by a single member from the management team. However, as your business grows, the number of authorisations may balloon and it could become difficult to keep track. In such cases, having a consolidated travel management platform can help keep everyone on track.

Booking Coordination

Employees may be required to travel in pairs or groups. In such cases, it may be easier for the travel manager to make bookings for the team. However, flight and hotel bookings may not fit your business travel schedules perfectly, making it difficult to find the best deals.

Allowing employees to take charge of their own business travel plans could save time and effort for the travel manager while keeping employees and overseas partners satisfied.

Travel Policies, Cost Control and Expense Management

Cost will always be the major factor in corporate travel management. While well-defined travel policies provide employees with guidelines, there could be grey areas open for disputes. Price hikes on specific flight or hotel schedules and unforeseen circumstances that lead to last minute itinerary changes are some common examples.

Other than flight and hotel costs, miscellaneous business travel expenses also require clear policies. The approval and reimbursement process involves reporting of expenses, submission of receipts, and reconciliation which can take up a lot of time. Currency conversion adds to the headache due to the frequent fluctuation in rates.

If done manually, there may be a chance of oversight and errors too.

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Common travel management solutions and tools

Here are some common solutions and tools that could aid your corporate travel management:

Booking sites

While most booking sites are designed for retail consumers, many businesses simply book their flights and hotels from the same websites. This is suitable for a company with infrequent travel schedules, but you may be able to unlock better corporate deals when your company grows bigger.

Travel agencies

Some companies outsource their corporate travel management to specialized travel agencies. Travel agencies can help to broker better corporate prices which could help save costs on flights and even hotels.

Expense management tools

Expense tracking, cost control and reimbursement management are major headaches related to business travel. Expense management softwares can help you solve these problems. Here are some popular solutions that can be used to effectively manage your corporate travel spending:

Ramp

A corporate expense management software that helps you manage and optimise corporate spending.² It offers the following key features:

• Corporate cards that come with cashback
• Customisable expense controls including travel policies and approvals
• Expense management including automated reimbursements
• Bill payments

Wise Business

A multi-currency account with smart expense management features designed to help growing businesses manage international payments effectively. Wise Business offers the following features:

• Wise Business debit card linked to a business account
• No foreign transaction fees; always get the mid-market rate
• Hold and manage over 40 currencies
• Expense management with controlled spending on business cards³
• No subscriptions, no monthly fees

💡 Wise Business Account allows you to issue individual business debit cards, without worrying about foreign transaction fees or additional monthly subscription fees. Travel spending policies and budgets can be implemented via business debit cards with custom spending limits (plus, remove the hassle of receipt collection and reimbursements).

Airwallex

A global payments and financial platform that allows businesses to manage expenses internationally.⁴ It offers the following key features:

• Multi-currency account that holds 23+ currencies
• VISA Corporate cards with spending limits, linked directly to your multi-currency account
• No foreign transaction fees on card spend
• Expense management of card spends and reimbursements

➡️ Check out our Airwallex Singapore Business Account Review

Travel management tools

Travel management softwares helps streamline the entire corporate travel management workflow from booking to expense management and more. These are some of the most popular software solutions to consider:

TravelPerk

An all-in-one corporate travel management platform designed to simplify and consolidate the entire workflow.⁵ TravelPerk’s key features allow you to:

• Book flights, trains, hotels, and car rentals at corporate rates
• Track and manage travel expense reporting
• Customise and implement travel policies and approval workflows
• Manage travel risks
• Provide support to business travelers
• Analyse your company’s business travel analytics to streamline costs and maximise impact of corporate travels
• Consolidate travel status of all employees in a single dashboard

TravelBank

A corporate travel management platform with a strong focus on expense management.⁶ TravelBank’s key features allow you to:

• Book flights, hotels, and car rentals at corporate rates
• Customise and implement travel policies
• Track and manage travel expenses
• Implement a Rewards Program that encourages employees to make cost-saving choices

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Best practices for managing business travel effectively

Have a well-defined corporate travel policy

A properly structured policy provides detailed guidelines that enable employees to make decisions with confidence. Travel management software can help enforce travel policies by presenting valid options to employees.

➡️ Good to read: What’s the Best Business Travel Insurance Policy in Singapore?

Use an intuitive expense management workflow

Having a user-friendly expense management system allows employees the flexibility to organise their own business travels with ease.

A dedicated multi-currency account with linked business cards like Wise Business offers the ability to set spending limits and track expenses on a single platform, while removing the need for manual reimbursements and simplifying budget management.

Track and optimise

Business travel has its rewards, but racks up expenses quickly.

Reviewing and updating your travel policy regularly helps keep costs low while maximising the benefits of business travel.

Bonus tip: If your staff need to travel frequently for work, you can earn miles and save more with a corporate travel credit card

➡️ Check out our Review of American Express Singapore Airlines Business Credit Card

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Conclusion

Approval tracking, coordination of bookings and costs are key issues in corporate travel management. In this article, we’ve shared some popular tools and solutions you can use to alleviate these problems.

Beyond these common problems, you should also take note of some hidden costs that tend to be overlooked.

First, flight rescheduling and last minute changes. Even if they do not occur frequently, such occurrences are often costly. While travel insurance would cover the financial costs, travel disruptions would often lead to missed work hours and fatigue that leads to lower performance.

Second, unplanned social events and local commutes. Face to face meetings with clients and business partners help build rapport and trust. Overzealous clients may call for unplanned social events and local commutes that could lead to excess spending. While having a travel policy helps, there may be situations where employees are not able to turn down requests from clients.

⭐ Third, hidden forex markups, foreign transaction fees and ATM fees are business costs that can quickly compound before you realise what’s happening. With Wise Business you can always enjoy the mid-market rate on overseas transactions, and always know what you’re paying for in every transaction. Plus, the business account's expense management features streamlines financial oversight and provides better control over your business finances, freeing up time to focus on growth and strategic planning.

Get started with Wise Business

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Sources:

1. CWT Research
2. Ramp
3. Wise Business Debit Cards
4. AirWallex Spend Management
5. TravelPerk
6. TravelBank

Sources checked on: 8 Feb 2025