Using KPIs for travel management can reduce costs while improving compliance. Discover top travel KPI examples to follow.
Is your business using the most up-to-date key performance indicators (KPIs) for travel management and efficiency? Corporate travel generates vast quantities of data, including everything from average trip spend to supplier usage rates. By breaking down and analysing this employee travel data, you’ll gain a greater understanding of how each trip aligns with company goals.
These data-driven metrics contribute to quantifiable key performance indicators, measures used to evaluate your corporate travel programme’s success.
Do these measurements meet your business travel budget and industry benchmarks? Learning how to monitor travel management KPIs over time helps identify trends and encourage compliance. With traveller data, you’ll be better able to review what each business trip brings in terms of ROI to make strategic decisions. This could include determining what can be replaced with virtual calls, and which areas require more in-person business travel.
How do you measure a successful business trip using traveller data? First, measure whether the business trip has achieved its primary objective, whether it’s closing a deal, showcasing a new product at a conference, or meeting international partners.
After assessing whether the business trip’s goal has been achieved, additional travel KPI examples span several areas covering compliance, finance, sustainability, and satisfaction.
Here are the main categories of business travel metrics to measure and follow.
Now that we’ve covered the broader categories, here are more specific metrics to follow. Using how to apply travel KPI examples will help you to evaluate and streamline your company’s travel management policies.
This financial KPI calculates the average cost of each business travel booking. To calculate, add up all associated booking costs for each trip, including fees and administrative expenses, then divide by the total number of bookings.
Tracking cost per booking over time identifies potential hidden fees and seasonal trends that could help reduce expenditure. For example, if you’re spending money on a booking platform that charges a per-trip fee, switching over to a free solution like Tripeden.com for Business could reduce your overall cost per booking.
Securing corporate travel discounts is one of the best ways for organisations to reduce costs. To find out how much you’re saving with existing corporate rates, subtract your discounted rate from the average market rate. Then, divide this figure by the average market rate and multiply by 100 to convert into a percentage.
Once you’ve figured out your current savings rate, shop around to make sure you’re maximising your savings. A good place to start is with our Savings Calculator, a quick questionnaire that assesses whether you can reduce corporate travel spend while using Tripeden.com for Business.
Does your travel policy specify a preferred booking tool or platform? If so, try this compliance KPI for tracking adoption rates. It measures the percentage of business travellers that use your existing online booking tool. When adoption rates are low, it requires investigation. Low adoption often points to issues with the user experience or lack of booking options. A platform like Tripeden.com for Business, by offering a user-friendly central dashboard and access to a wide range of choice, can naturally improve adoption rates.
This KPI measurement tracks the frequency of itinerary changes and cancellations. In many cases, changing an existing booking will incur administrative fees and additional costs.
In addition to tracking the frequency of changes and cancellations, you can also look at their timings. Are there certain times of the year that lead to more changes? Examining the data will help you fine-tune your existing policies. It’s also worth encouraging a flexible travel booking tool with free cancellation.
Corporate travel policies are key to managing spend and speeding up approvals, all while meeting duty of care requirements. This metric looks at how well your employees are following company travel policies.
What percentage of trips meet all guidelines? Are there certain areas where travellers are more likely to be non-compliant? These might need more workshopping for clarity. Try using our Travel Policy Builder to ensure all areas are covered.
Over 84% of employees report that business travel is ‘important’ or ‘very important’ to their job satisfaction. Overall, business travel should be a positive, rewarding experience – if it’s not, this may indicate an issue with your corporate travel programme.
To assess employee experience KPIs, administer regular satisfaction surveys after each trip. Include specific questions about how they found the booking process, transportation, accommodations, and overall journey. Armed with this data, you can identify and address pain points to enhance satisfaction.
Another important aspect of the employee experience is safety. As part of your corporate risk assessment and mitigation processes, you should have clear processes to contact travellers in an emergency. Yet if their profiles are incomplete, this contact information may be lacking.
With this compliance KPI, you can create a completion score for online travel profiles. Ideally, this figure will be as close as possible to 100%.
Part of duty of care is minimising the chances of disruption during business trips, whether it’s due to illness, incomplete visa paperwork or severe weather conditions. When these situations do occur, log each reported incident to track them over time. Sift through the data to identify any trends and update safety protocols accordingly.
This KPI measurement tracks the environmental impact of business travel through CO2 release. Companies can then invest in ways to achieve net zero.
How can I track my carbon footprint?
Use carbon footprint calculators like Greenly to track emissions and create custom decarbonisation strategies. For example, you may adapt your policy and encourage travellers to take trains instead of flying on short-haul journeys, while investing in carbon offsets at the same time.
Does your company have preferred car rental companies, airlines, or hotels that you work with? If you are contractually bound to meet certain spending requirements to receive corporate travel discounts, this KPI is important to track.
For small and medium-sized business that may not meet the minimums, [platforms](Corporate travel management for small businesses) like Tripeden.com for Business are often more beneficial than booking directly with each hotel. Travellers can choose from one of the most comprehensive inventories of car rentals, flights, and hotels,
The travel KPI examples above are some of the most common. But it’s important to remember that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, as every business has its own travel patterns and requirements. Choose the ones that align the most with your company’s travel programme and goals. For example, small business owners might focus heavily on cost per booking and discount savings, while larger firms may emphasise policy compliance and sustainability.
Business travel KPIs give you facts and numbers to work with, but it’s what you do with this data that matters. Here’s how to adjust your strategy for better alignment with travel programme objectives.
Calculating travel KPIs is most effective when done over time. First, you’ll need to collect and compile traveller data from your company’s booking systems. Looking at traveller data over the long-term identifies emerging trends and areas in need of improvement. There are four types of data analytics used in business travel decision-making:
Using travel management tools, your company can centralise traveller data for more accurate metric tracking. It’s also possible to automate tasks, which improves efficiency. Integrate booking platforms with expense management software to automatically upload receipts in real-time to hasten approvals and reimbursements.
Finally, choose travel solutions like Tripeden.com for Business that simplify the booking and managing process. With a central, user-friendly dashboard, business travellers gain control over their own itineraries, all while staying policy compliant, while admins can better manage traveller bookings and spend in one place.
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