National Post (National Edition)
Keep your travel costs grounded
Simple tips will stop your bill from soaring
This fall, one of Martin Millican’s biggest clients was considering a major alteration in their contract, just two months before it was up for renewal. Millican is located in Toronto and the client in Alberta, but the scope and significance of the changes warranted a face-toface meeting.
But as president and founding partner of leadgeneration software and service provider Envoke, Millican didn’t lose sight of trip cost.
Business travel is expensive, and last-minute travel even more so. Normally, Aeroplan member Millican puts all his company’s expenses on his points card and tries to plan trips far enough in advance to get flights for the lowest number of points. “But the degree to which you have to plan in advance depends on the route,” he says.
Luckily for him, high volume routes such as Toronto to Calgary always seem to have flights available almost at the last minute for minimum points. “I was able to book a flight using the minimum 25,000 points and only $170 in fees within less than a week of departure,” Millican says. “It would have cost $800-plus to buy the ticket directly from Air Canada.”
Other cost-cutting measures Millican took included taking the UP Express to Pearson airport (just $9 each way with a Presto card, compared with $130 for an airport limo there and back) and meeting with his client in the Marriott hotel at the airport in Calgary, rather than paying for a cab to go downtown.
He also signed up for the Marriott app, which allowed him to bypass the check-in desk and automatically got him elite status. That came in handy when Millican discovered he’d mistakenly booked a hotel downtown rather than at the airport. Marriott not only switched his room, it honoured the lower rate; he got a $450 suite for $311, as well as access to the executive lounge with free food and drinks.
As Millican can attest, sometimes nothing can replace an in-person meeting, and with careful planning, travel doesn’t have to break the bank — even if it’s lastminute.
Here are five ways small and mid-size businesses can keep costs in check.
GET MAXIMUM VALUE FROM POINTS
Aim to redeem reward points at a value higher than their benchmark dollar value, advises Alyssa Furtado, founder of RateHub. ca. She calculates the average worth of an Aeroplan or RBC Rewards point at a little over one cent, for example, while the average Air Miles point is worth about 12 cents and a Starwood Preferred Guest point rings in at two cents.
To figure out whether you’re getting a good return on your points, check how many are required to book a flight or hotel stay (say 1,300 Air Miles for a low-season flight to New York). Compare that to the cheapest flight on Skyscanner (usually about $297, minus taxes and fees of approximately $137, because they usually can’t be paid with points). Divide the net cost of the flight ($160) by the number of Air Miles required to fly there (1,300).
The result: a redemption value of 10 cents for each Air Miles point (not so great compared to the benchmark).
Hate math? Take the easy route and check RateHub’s listings of the flight regions providing optimum value for the most popular points programs. DON’T PAY FOREIGN
EXCHANGE Most Canadian credit cards charge a 2.5 per cent foreign exchange transaction fee, on out-of-country purchases — and that’s on top of the exchange rate charged by Visa or MasterCard, says Marc Felgar, CEO of GreedyRates.ca. “The only cards that charge no foreign exchange fee are the Chase Marriott Rewards Visa and the Amazon Visa,” Felgar says.
Another good bet: the Rogers Platinum MasterCard, which offers four per cent cash back on foreign purchases. “You still get charged the 2.5 per cent foreign transaction fee,” Felgar says. “But you’re netting 1.5 per cent cash back, which is an exceptional rate of return on foreign purchases.” If you travel regularly, you might want to use one of these three cards for all out-ofcountry purchases, he says. PIGGYBACK YOUR OUT-OF-TOWN
MEETINGS “The way airfares are structured these days, most of them are point-to-point fares,” says Brian Robertson, COO of corporate travel specialist Vision Travel Solutions. But, “you can do a combination trip that takes in multiple cities, (to save) you time and money on both flights and hotels.”
Better yet, do it with points. Aeroplan has a multi-city option, Millican points out. “For the minimum 25,000 points for a North American flight, I was able to fly Toronto-Calgary, Calgary-Montreal, MontrealToronto,” he says. “I was able to visit two destinations for the same minimum points as one return flight.” AVOID BUSINESS TRAVEL IN PEAK
TIMES That includes the busy holiday season, as well as around long weekends in the summer, Robertson says. “Not only are airports jammed and flights and hotels packed,” you’ll pay more for both, particularly if you haven’t booked ahead. Also check your destination’s local holiday schedule. KEEP AN EYE ON EVERYONE’S EXPENSES Bob Neveu, president and co-founder of expensereport management software provider Certify Inc., has seen some pretty strange travel expenses over the years. Two recent surprises were $150 for a llama rental and $28,000 for Las Vegas bottle service.
His point: If you’re not watching costs, your company’s travellers may just take advantage, or they may simply forget what the travel policy says. That’s why Certify (and other travel management products) instantly categorizes expenses and tells travellers if they comply with your company’s travel policy. “If you realize you spent too much at breakfast today, it’s top of mind that you have to stay below budget tomorrow,” Neveu says.