Make Hotel and Travel Expenses Easier for you and for your Employees

Now, we all know that travelling and staying away from home can be a pain, particularly with the added stress of time-constraints and deadlines, but are there any other, more concrete …

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21st March 2012 at 10:23 pm

Now, we all know that travelling and staying away from home can be a pain, particularly with the added stress of time-constraints and deadlines, but are there any other, more concrete issues surrounding business travel?

Best Western, Britain largest group of independently owned hotels, has undertaken a study of 3,000 British employees, investigating this issue.

It seems there will always be the obvious concerns like tiredness and stress, but something more alarming was highlighted in this study; the huge amount of time and money lost by workers claiming back for trips in the interest of their employers.

The survey found that UK employees lose an average of £409.32 a year, a third of their monthly expenses, through not claiming back or loosing receipts, with hotel and train travel costs cited as the worst offenders!

It appears that employees are also spending far too much time filling in long, boring expenses forms and getting signatures that the now take up 23 days of the average persons life to complete. Just think what you could do in that time and with all that cash over the years. It’s a holiday of a lifetime, a brand new car or even a deposit on a house.

So what can employers do about this?  Well, as a result of the findings Best Western has launched a free, simple, effective solution; their new Best Western Business Account. It is a way of paying for train tickets and hotels (including in hotel expenses) to keep all travel related costs organised and manageable in one account.

 

It works a bit like a joint bank account shared by a large household.  Numerous cardholders undertaking trips, can use the account to cover all expenses.  Spending can be easily monitored by the account holder/CEO, as reports (including detailed breakdowns of all transactions) are sent to the employer at regular intervals through an online billing system. Plus, all information is presented clearly and coherently to reduce time spent gathering and organising financial information.

As you can imagine, the Best Western business account saves time, stress and worry (the elimination of the need for receipts is particularly freeing).

What’s more, the account is free to set up and there is no monthly fee or minimum usage criteria, (it’s easy to trial).  There is no contractual tie and the agreement can be easily terminated at any point, with 2 weeks notice.

 

Simon Green on behalf of Best Western Hotels

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Alex is the founder and editor of SmallBizPod, the UK's first podcast dedicated to small business, start-ups and entrepreneurship. Alex writes about topical small business issues, entrepreneurs and anything else that catches his eye here on the small business blog. http://www.smallbizpod.co.uk

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