Smart travel spend management isn’t just about setting a budget and sticking to it. It’s also about making tactical decisions and regularly reviewing and revising your plans. 

After you’ve planned out your travel budget for the year, your work isn’t quite done yet if you truly want to get a handle on your travel spend management. After a budget is set, the work continues, with ongoing management key to the process. Here’s what you need to know.

Key Takeaways 

• Align your budget with Traveler and business needs
• Use visibility tools to keep an eye on budget adherence, as well as to gather data for future budgetary decisions
• Save as much as possible through your travel policy and vendor negotiations
• Review your budget regularly to ensure it continues to meet your needs

Is Your 2026 Travel Budget Ready? 

In November, we covered smart travel budget planning and how to actually go about putting together a budget for 2026. We talked about analyzing past spend and understanding the true costs of a trip before setting your budget for the year. If you haven’t read that guide, you can do so now. However, if you have, here are the next four steps to take to truly master travel spend management.

What to Do After You’ve Drafted a Business Travel Budget

Step 1: Align Your Budget with Your Business Goals and Traveler Needs

So you have a travel budget drafted. You think that this is really going to enhance your travel spend management. It’ll make it easier for you to anticipate and manage costs. The only thing left to do is implement the budget within your travel policy. Then, ensure all Travelers are aware of any impactful changes to their travel booking and spending… right?

Well, not so fast. Once you have a business travel budget drafted based on past spending and current travel costs, as well as external factors, it’s important to also consider your business goals and Traveler’s needs. Your travel budget should align with both of these important factors.

Only once you’re sure that your budget will support your organizational goals, as well as that every Traveler will continue to enjoy a positive business travel experience under the new budget, will you want to formalize that new budget.

Step 2: Implement Visibility Tools and Controls

Just because a budget has been announced, however, that doesn’t mean that all travel will adhere to it automatically. While that’s always the hope, it’s important to use visibility tools and controls to ensure all teams are on track. They must remain compliant with budget-related travel policies at all times for your budget to be effective.

Not only will using visibility tools help you control spending and spot possible problem areas, though. It will also provide you with valuable data. You can use this data to inform future decisions, such as how to set your travel budget for 2027.

Step 3: Use Smart Savings Strategies

Even if you’re staying on budget, you can still implement smart saving strategies for an overall higher ROI.

For example, instruct Travelers to only book travel within certain booking windows. This can help eliminate costly last-minute bookings.

As a Travel Manager, you may also engage in negotiations with your vendors. That way, you can secure better rates for your Travelers. Even if you’re unable to secure better rates, you may be able to secure extra perks or free amenities. These might impact your Travelers’ costs otherwise (such as if they need to purchase WiFi, seat upgrades, etc.). The travel providers that offer such reduced rates or extra perks can then be listed in your travel policy as your organization’s preferred vendors.

You might also need to outline parameters around what kind of travel, specifically, Travelers can book, beyond just mandating preferred vendors. For example, for travel within a certain radius, you might require Travelers to take public transit or rent a car, versus flying. You might also dictate the circumstances under which they can pay for upgrades.

Step 4: Continually Review and Refine

Lastly, realize that no travel budget will ever be 100% perfect, forever. Effective travel spend management requires continual review and refinement. 

Take time to review your travel spend, along with stakeholders, on a regular basis. Use the data you’ve gathered through your visibility tools to refine your travel budget and policies. Make sure they continue to support your organization’s evolving business goals and travel needs.

Furthermore, ensure your travel budget and policies are adaptable and flexible, as needed. Not every special request to operate outside of the travel budget or policy is appropriate. However, sometimes you will need to allow Travelers to spend more in certain ways. They may need to book travel that normally might be frowned upon.

For example, you may require Travelers to book within a certain timeframe, a minimum number of days before their intended trip. However, say a client emergency arises. You may need to be flexible and allow them to book a trip last-minute, even if that falls outside of the budget.

Likewise, if a Traveler’s trip is interrupted (a recent survey found that 90% of business Travelers across the United States and Europe experienced a business travel disruption in the last year), they may need to spend more or work with a non-preferred vendor to get their trip back on track.

Travel Spend Management Pays Off

If you put up some time and investment upfront, you can manage your business travel spending so that you see a positive return on each and every business trip your Travelers take. 

Need more help? In addition to reviewing our prior article on setting your travel budget to begin with, also check out our downloadable checklist to streamline your process.