Allowing travelers to book off site, through apps on their phone or the internet has been very controversial over the past several years due to security concerns and safety. A company without a clear travel program that their employees must use leaves themselves open to many potential issues and problems.

What percentage of your business travel are you booking through a travel agency?

Having a standardized and consistent policy is just one of the benefits of centralizing travel services. Other benefits are back office efficiency, securing preferred partnerships and rates with vendors, security and safety, shared best practices and economic gains overall.

Does your business have a centralized travel management program?

Travel policies are the back bone of all travel management programs. Managing travel for an entire company -- such as specifying preferred hotels to stay in, requiring everyone to fly coach, and setting a per diem for meals and other expenses -- can be essential to the bottom line.

Does your company or business use a managed travel policy?

The Travel industry constantly changes. There are new services, partners and cost savings opportunities.  Travel policies should be analyzed by a professional travel agency account manager and changed when its in the companies best interest to do so.

When was the last time your travel policy had a major review?

Online booking tools are very popular. It gives one the flexibility and control that they need to book trips based on their schedule. By mandating an on line booking tool for a high percentage of bookings a company can reduce costs associated to the administrative work required to facilitate that booking.  You must also accept that a 100% adoption rate is never achievable since its advisable to go directly to the agency for complicated or international trips.

Do you have a sanctioned online booking tool that takes your travel policy into account for travel bookings?

Having contracted hotel rates for properties can have many added benefits. Especially if that city has a limited number of hotel room nights and tends to sell out frequently. If you have a contract with that property or that hotel chain some of the benefits are that the property will work with you to accommodate VIP's, deal with issues and special requests such as meeting rooms and accommodations during high season.

Do you mandate that travelers stay at hotel properties in which you have contracted rates?

On a scale of 1 to 10. 10 being the highest and 1 the lowest.
Traveler satisfaction is one of the most important factor of any travel management program.

What is your personal level of satisfaction with your current travel agency?