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How far in advance should travelers plan?
TMCs should help their clients encourage advanced bookings by notifying travelers and their management how much the traveler could have saved by booking in advance.
On a regular basis, TMCs show companies an infographic on the difference.

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II ARRANGING TRAVEL A&B

Companies should limit their number of TMCs to 1 or 2. This is such that it will be easier for companies to actually track travel expenses without having to consolidate them which gives the company more work. It will also ensure consistency and cost savings via negotiated supplier discounts.

RISK: by limiting travelers' option will make the company be fully liable.

It will dilute volume, reduce the ability to negotiate for a better rate. How they decide? e.g. Based on the strength of the TMC's (region).

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Address how travelers should handle trip changes.

Travelers should know how to properly handle trip changes to prevent incurring additional surcharges. (Try to cancel in advance and not drag)

Try to limit these additional charges for travel emergencies or during non-business hours.

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The policy should allow travelers to book a trip further in advance so that they have a better chance of paying a lower airfare and selecting their preferred seats.

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Keep local standards, legislation practices and budgets in mind. For example, a company can't allow travelers to fly business class on flights longer than six hours if a particular business unit or location's particular business unit or location's budget can't support such flights.

Rationale: There is a huge cost difference in business and economy class. If the global operations require substantial amount of business trips, taking economy class will save cost and the money can be spent on other areas. Moreover, the company can implement video conferences since technology is so advanced, to save travel expenses

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The company should consider charging employees for no-show billings if they neglect to cancel reservations.

Rationale:
This ensures the employees to show up for the flight since they have to pay if they do not show up and make the effort to cancel it. The air tickets will hence not be wasted, saving the travel cost of the company.

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Part III B(3) The policy should consider giving travellers a maximum amount to spend daily across hotel, meals and incidentals, depending on the cost of doing business in each city. Base these per diems on the firm's historical expenses, BTN's Corporate Travel Index or published indices prepared by consulting firms and the federal government. Business-entertainment expenses are typically calculated separately.

Rationale: This is because travellers may take advantage of the fact that the companies are paying for their accommodation and daily needs and spend more than required. Hence it is important for the company to set a maximum amount to spend on the basic necessities.

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One policy the company would like to push for would be "Air Travel".

Should companies deploy separate policies for individual countries?

-Companies can group countries with common travel requirements and cultures into regional policy.
- Depending on the country that employees will be travelling to different policies approach should be taken.
- For example, if an employee has to travel with a big client, it would be more advisable to take a business class rather than an economy class. However if the employee is travelling alone, travelling by economy class would help the company to save cost. Hence if the employee wants to travel by business class, they can choose to upgrade personally.

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Under the questions to ponder, "Who should subject to policy?". It mentions that grater cost control comes with a single policy that is applicable to all locations. Also, if the company implements an umbrella policy, it can balance consistency and autonomy.

Under the Air Travel policy segment, it mentions that the policy should have their business travellers to travel by the company's preferred airline. This should be fostered as it promotes consistency in terms of the airline used and they can better keep track of the ticket prices. As the company may pair with various airlines, if the travellers travel using the paired airlines, there may be better prices offered as compared to other airlines. With possible lower prices offered, travel cost can be keep tracked of and possibly reduce travel cost.
In addition, "Non-refundable fares" should be fostered to make travellers more responsible. As business schedules are always subject to changes, trips may be rescheduled or cancelled. By implementing non-refundable fares, the travellers will be more mindful when booking tickets as well as keep track of their schedule to make respective changes if necessary. The company can then put the booked ticket to other uses. This would possibly help the company to reduce travel cost incurred.

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Company should adopt a policy that provides travellers with defined guidelines on "lowest logical", "lowest available" or "lowest applicable" fares. This is because fares differ between domestic and international travel, and with this policy, travellers are aware of the fare rates that they should book within. This can help a company save cost as travellers will make the effort to follow the guidelines if companies makes the effort to generate it.

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Part 3(D1) - Companies may allow high-ranking executives to stay in luxury hotels on executive floors.

I feel that this policy is not necessary as the room is just an accommodation and the travel costs for the company will be lowered if they were to standardise the room type.

I feel that everyone should be allocated to a similar room type if not for holding meetings or specific event. For example, the marketing staff should be allocated to a similar room type as Department Head of Marketing.

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Part 3(A2): The policy should state what travellers should do if they find rates lower than the TMC's or designated booking tool's. Most companies discourage direct bookings through supplier websites. Though direct bookings can mean lower rates, they yield neither booking information nor data consolidation. They also undermine negotiated corporate rate agreements by diluting market share figures unless you've established a tracking machine, reduce commission income and diminish the company's ability to keep track of employee's whereabouts.
Rationale: If there isn't a policy implemented to control and track the bookings of the employees, some may take advantage of the system and spend more than they should. Even though there may be lower rates at other suppliers, they do not allow the companies to track records or keep data of their expenditures unless there is a tracking system. And in order for the company to have clear and precise data that ensures that employees do not misuse their rights, there is a need for such a policy.

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'Air Travel'
Reimbursement items the company should lay out in the policy:
How the company will handle supplier's loyalty programme benefits. Most companies allow travellers to keep thee rewards, while others encourage travellers to use them for business.

The company should encourage the travellers to use supplier's loyalty program benefits for business.
Rationale: the companies pay for the traveller's flights and therefore, the benefits obtained from such loyalty programmes should belong to the company. By returning all benefits to the company, they can use these benefits to purchase multiple free flights which helps them save a large percent of their travel costs.