Corporate travel management software is sold as two different products under one name. The first is a booking platform: inventory, negotiated rates, a support line that rebooks a cancelled flight at midnight, priced by the booking. The second is the record: the policy the team books against, the request costed and approved before booking, the booking references filed against the trip, and the register of who is away. A company with a travel manager usually buys the first; a company where the office manager runs travel between other jobs usually needs the second, and often already has the first in the shape of the airline and hotel sites it books on. This page sets out what each kind keeps and books, so a small company buys the one it is missing.
The record is what most small companies are missing
A company of twenty people that travels a few times a month already has a booking channel: the airline site, the hotel site, a company card. What it does not have is one place that says who approved this trip at what cost, where the booking references are, and who is in Denver this week. Business travel management software in the record sense keeps exactly that, and it works whichever channel the booking was made on. Perdiemo Pro is that product: every traveler, every trip with its estimated cost and its approver, every booking reference, the policy version each request was read against, and the register.
The booking platform earns its fee at volume
A travel manager software platform with negotiated rates and a rebooking line is worth its per-booking fee when the team travels often enough to save more on fares than the fees cost and to need the rebooking line more than once a quarter. Below that volume the fees are pure cost and the negotiated rates are no better than the public fare booked fourteen days out. The travel policy worksheet on this site sets that lead time as a rule, which is the cheapest travel management solution most small companies can adopt.
What travel management software for small business should refuse to do
It should not hold the traveler's card, because a small company does not want a third party paying on its behalf; it should not screen or track the traveler beyond the register the company keeps; and it should not publish fares or hotel rates of its own, because those change daily and a stale figure is worse than none. Small business travel solutions that promise all of it are enterprise products with the price hidden. Perdiemo keeps the record and computes on the figures you enter; the free worksheets are the request form, the estimator, the policy, the plan and the checklists.
Reading a vendor's pricing page
Ask three questions of any travel management solutions page: is there a fee per booking, is there a minimum term, and does the record export. A per-booking fee on a tier means the monthly price is the floor, not the cost; a minimum term means the product is priced for a company that will not leave; and a record that does not export means the year of trips it holds belongs to the vendor. Perdiemo Pro is one price for the whole team, monthly, no per-booking fee, and the register exports on demand.
Questions people ask about corporate travel management software
Is corporate travel management software the same as a booking tool?
No. A booking tool sells inventory and charges by the booking; management software keeps the policy, the approval, the references and the register. Some products do both; a small company usually needs the second and already has the first.
What does travel management software for small business cost?
The record kind is priced per month for the team; the platform kind is priced per booking on top of a tier. Perdiemo Pro is one monthly price for the whole team with no per-booking fee, and the worksheets are free.
Do we need it at ten travelers?
You need the record at any size where 'who approved this' is answered by searching email. Ten travelers making two trips a month is where the email thread stops working; the free request form is the first step, and Pro is the place the requests are kept.