Save on Fall Business Travel
Business travel changes from season to season. Destinations that are cheap and widely available in the winter are often booked up solid in the summer. It’s not just a difference in airline prices or accommodations. The whole experience changes with the temperature.
To take full advantage of the fall season, it’s important to remember which industries peak at that time of year and which are at their nadir. Making plans according to the season can make travel more comfortable, more efficient, and ultimately more successful.
1. Look out for the fall specials
Summer is family vacation time, and fall is for business travel. People are refreshed from the slower pace of summer and ready to get down to business. That’s why so many new projects start in September. But while it may be the best time to travel for business, it’s a slower time for the travel industry in general, which peaks in the summer. The fall is officially the start of the off-season.
Tourist season is over. Business travel is the biggest game going in the travel industry. That’s why many airlines, hotels, and all of the adjoining services are competing for the business traveler. This is when they roll out their best deals.
Anticipating the seasonal discounts can allow for better deals throughout the year, and that could add up to significant savings, especially if business travel is a major spending item on your company’s budget.
2. Save on lighter luggage
Even though the weather has started to cool off by the beginning of fall, it’s still some of the mildest temperatures you’ll encounter all year. Even as fall moves closer to winter, the real cold doesn’t hit with full force until the middle of December at the earliest.
That means that through virtually all of fall, you can pack lighter than you will at any time of year. You need much less luggage, and if you are making a quick enough trip, you can get away with just a carry-on and not pay fees for luggage at all, depending on which airline you fly. Chances are, the best deals will also come with luggage limits, so take advantage of the season to get the all-around best price available.
Less luggage also means less hassle in other ways. You can get in and out of the airport much faster, giving you extra hours for more important things. You have less to worry about when you travel from place to place. Besides, less luggage means less hassle, and that is worthwhile even if it doesn’t lead to any savings.
3. Avoid flying on Wednesdays or Thursdays
In recent years, virtually all business trips revolve around Wednesdays or Thursdays. Trips that begin on Mondays often ended on Thursdays. Trips that begin on Wednesdays often wound up on Fridays. And trips that start on Tuesdays go through Thursdays or Fridays. As a result, nearly every trip either started or included Wednesdays or Thursdays, making those the hardest days to book and the least likely to offer any discounts.
It may not be possible to avoid these mid-week days on your business schedule but it would be advisable to avoid flying on them. As the most popular days, they have the least incentive for discounts, while other days, such as Tuesdays or Fridays have less activity and therefore less demand.
4. Keep your travel apps up to date
With so much to worry about on a standard business trip, the more you can automate the less you have to think about. One of the best things to automate is your VAT\GST returns because if you don’t automate it, you probably file the paperwork. The forms are complicated but the app is not, so there is no reason to leave money that belongs to sitting in the VAT\GST offices.
With VAT\GST return apps like WAY2VAT, you also get other benefits. Because it’s so easy to scan all you receipts into the system right away, the app provides a real time expense report that that you can check at a glance. Then you know how much you are really spending on each item on your budget rather than hoping to remember and deciphering hundreds of tiny receipts in a variety of languages.
The WAY2VAT system presents a real opportunity to save money on VAT\GST returns you might have ignored in the past and keeps spending in line throughout the year. No wonder people are turning to automation apps for most of the technical aspects of travel.