Do your Travelers frequently get around via rental car or rail? You could be leaving money on the table. Here’s how to take advantage of rail and corporate car rental programs.
For a few months now, we’ve been covering all things business supplier partnerships for SMEs. Our series has covered how to secure partnerships with hotel chains and airlines. Now we’re finally on to another important segment of your travel budget and sustainability goals: ground transportation.
Key Takeaways
- Interest in business travel via ground transportation is growing for myriad reasons.
- Booking business ground transportation comes with its challenges and isn’t as straightforward as it seems.
- Ground transportation providers actively want to work with SMEs.
- Forming ground transportation partnerships is relatively easy, whether you take advantage of an existing business travel program or try to negotiate a customized partnership.
Why Ground Transportation Matters for SMEs
While not often given as much attention as air travel or hotel nights, ground transportation matters for SMEs, especially those that travel for work locally or regionally more often than internationally. Ground transportation can be more affordable than air travel, as well as more sustainable. However, while ground transportation may seem simple on the surface level, it’s really not.
For one, there are just so many different types of ground transportation that Travelers could take advantage of. Beyond rental cars and rail, there are bus and metro services, taxis and rideshare services. Even parking costs can fall under this umbrella.
Additionally, booking a connected trip, ground transportation included, isn’t often an option. During a recent PhocusWire interview, experts pointed to AI potentially enabling the purchasing of connected travel—including train, taxi and bus—all in one go, but admitted that these capabilities aren’t the norm at the moment.
All the while, making sure that you’re paying close attention to ground transportation within your travel program is vital. It impacts the Traveler experience, duty of care, sustainability and more. And, even though managed ground transportation takes up relatively little of your travel budget (just under 12% for most Travel Managers, according to Business Travel News), it still impacts your budget. That is, of course, where corporate car rental programs and similar corporate ground transportation programs can come in handy.
Just like you can pursue hotel and airline partnerships for SMEs, you can also pursue car rental partnerships for business.
Corporate Car Rental Partnerships: Why Suppliers Work with SMEs
The fact is, according to Business Travel News, the majority of Travel Managers have some sort of formal relationship with ground transportation providers. Just about all travel programs (92%) include formal rental car company relationships. Meanwhile, 63% of travel programs include a formal ride-hailing company relationship and 54% have formal chauffeured transportation provider relationships.
There are many reasons why car rental and rail suppliers are so willing to work with SMEs (as compared to airlines, which are notoriously difficult due to volume thresholds). At the most basic level, ground transportation providers are realizing that SMEs are a hugely untapped market with a lot of buying potential in the travel space.
Meanwhile, when just looking at ground transportation overall, Skift calls it, along with sea transportation, “one of the most underexplored and lucrative opportunities in travel, offering a $198 billion market that’s ready for digital transformation.” Skift counts buses, ferries, trains and transfers among this market. It particularly notes that Asia is the fastest-growing market within this industry overall.
Options for Corporate Car Rental Programs
If you are one of the few organizations with a travel policy that has yet to tap into corporate car rental programs, you have no dearth of options.
Just about every major car rental supplier has a standardized rental program, including Avis, Budget, Enterprise, Europcar, National, Sixt and more. Additionally, you can sometimes work with a car rental provider to discuss your individual needs, if your needs exceed the typical. For example, Avis will work with SMEs to provide exclusive rates if you need five cars or more.
However, if you don’t need anything special, simply opting for the widely available, standard business car rental discountsis often satisfactory.
Rail Opportunities: When and Where Rail Adds Value
Similarly, corporate rail discounts are standardized and widely available, with options through Amtrak, VIA Rail in Canada, Merseyrail in the United Kingdom and many, many more.
Business train travel is growing in popularity due to a range of factors, including organizations’ growing attention to sustainability, as well as Traveler preferences. Compared to air travel or driving, traveling for work by rail may be more flexible, enjoyable and convenient.
Plus, evolving technology is making the rail experience even more valuable for business Travelers, with easier-than-ever booking, smart ticketing, integrated offerings and similar.
How to Build Ground Transportation Supplier Partnerships
You can initially take advantage of ground transportation supplier offerings for businesses, which are freely available to anyone who qualifies. However, you can also build more strategic ground transportation supplier partnerships by entering into a negotiations process.
If you do, be sure to start with the data. You want to be able to show suppliers your annual trip volume, common routes, rental durations, etc. Show demand patterns and what those suppliers can expect from you.
Then, pursue both national and local/regional agreements and begin building predictable, reliable relationships with suppliers. Don’t only ask for lower rates customized to your needs. Also explore extra perks, such as waived ancillary fees, free upgrades and other amenities.
Don’t Overlook Ground Transportation
When fine-tuning your business travel budget and policy for the year ahead, don’t overlook SME car rental partnerships and business travel car rental deals. They can lower your travel spend while increasing Traveler satisfaction.
Looking for other ways to optimize your travel budget and find SME-supplier partnership opportunities? Be sure to check out our guide to securing hotel supplier partnerships. Then, read our guide to air supplier partnerships and feasible alternatives.
JTB Business Travel may reference reporting or research published by Northstar; however, all commentary and recommendations in this article are independently developed.
