Scott Gillespie, founder of tClara, is an industry-leading expert on travel management, procurement, analytics and traveller friction

¡°If we can save ten per cent on travel, we can take ten per cent more trips!¡±

So said my client, a travel category leader, as she explained her motivation for managing down the cost of travel. This was in 1994. She understood procurement¡¯s central goal, one that has been the basis for managing travel for the last three decades.

Most of today¡¯s managed travel principles exist because they serve this goal so well. We control the spend, prioritise savings, design policies and tools to shift volume to preferred suppliers, and strive to purchase low-cost trips ¨C all in order to keep prices low and take more trips.

After thirty years, it¡¯s fair to ask if this strategy is still warranted. For many companies I say it is not.

In February of 2022 tClara asked 522 US-based business leaders to rank-order seven travel-related goals. Their top five priorities: More successful trips, protecting the health and safety of their travellers, increasing road warrior retention, reducing travel-related carbon emissions, and (tied with) reducing the number of business trips.
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The two lowest priorities? Reducing the cost of business trips, and increasing the number of business trips.

Notably, not one of the 'lower prices, more trips' principles help to achieve any of the top five goals listed above. Holy crap ¨C we need a new strategy for managing travel!
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The 'less travel, better results' strategy
Goals drive strategies, so we need a set of cohesive principles to achieve these new goals. The 'less travel, better results' strategy does so in no small part by ignoring the quest for low prices and cost savings. It works by using four principles.

1. Travel less, but travel better
Research underway at tClara indicates that 20-25 per cent of US-based business trips have low value. I suspect the same is true for trips based in the UK and Europe. These are the trips that should be eliminated, as we don¡¯t want to eliminate moderate- and high-value trips.

The key to this principle is to embrace higher travel prices. Radical, yes, but remarkably effective. Why?

??? ?Higher prices eliminate demand for low-value trips, as these will be harder to justify.
??? ?Higher prices chew up a travel budget faster, so fewer trips will be taken. Goal!
??? ?Higher prices mean higher profit margins for travel suppliers. This makes it easier for travel suppliers (and buyers; see below) to decarbonise travel. Goal!
??? ?Higher prices can ¨C should ¨C be used to buy higher-quality travel. Research shows links between higher-quality travel and more trip success, better retention, and better traveller health and wellbeing. Goal, goal and goal!

Intentionally paying higher prices is a big ask of most managers. They¡¯ll need to be persuaded of these merits and to be more diligent about denying requests for low-value trips. The upside? It preserves their travel budgets for the more justified higher-value trips.

2. Pay more to pollute less
The two most important metrics of a travel programme¡¯s emissions are its total emissions and its carbon intensity. Carbon intensity is found by dividing total emissions by the travel spend. Companies should calculate their carbon intensity for their baseline year (eg, 1.0kg per pound, euro, or dollar in 2019). Now strive to reduce this metric every year. Here¡¯s how:

Imagine a company setting a goal to reduce its carbon intensity by 25 per cent (eg, down to 0.75 kg CO2 per pound, euro or dollar). With a bit of innovation by its corporate booking tool, the company could now prioritise flight itineraries that have acceptably low carbon intensities.

Fair warning ¨C cheap tickets in economy do poorly on this test, while more expensive and typically higher-quality itineraries do well. Use this carbon intensity cap to justify paying more while polluting less.

3. Measure before and after
Management¡¯s top priority is achieving more successful trip outcomes. So let¡¯s agree that we need to start measuring trip success. The key is conducting simple pre-and post-trip assessments.

Ask 'why are you traveling?' before the trip, and afterwards ask 'how successful was this trip?' Fortunately, 90 per cent of the business leaders surveyed by tClara support requiring this of their travellers.
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If management really cares about traveller health and safety, then we need to measure that, too. Ditto for road warrior retention and travel¡¯s decarbonisation.
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None of these goal-driven metrics are hard to produce at scale. Travel management companies should be driving the development of these metrics and helping their clients to interpret the results. It¡¯s an important new frontier for adding value, isn¡¯t it?

4. Trade savings for success
If higher prices are better (and they are for this strategy), then discounts and savings are counter-productive. Now imagine what a creative procurement pro could get from suppliers in return for buying higher-quality travel and foregoing the customary discounts.
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Surely such a buyer would leapfrog to the front of the 'most valued customer' line. Suppliers would likely bend over backward to give this buyer and their travellers excellent service and last-minute availability. The buyer¡¯s travellers would quickly climb the loyalty ladder rungs, which in turn yields better service and loyalty rewards.
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Buyers who play the 'no discount' card right will find new sources of value while making progress towards all of management¡¯s top travel-related goals. Procurement heads must be spinning.
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Unlock travel¡¯s strategic value
The key to increasing travel¡¯s strategic value is remarkably simple. Use the pre-trip assessment to tie each business trip to the business goal that it most directly supports. Buy itineraries that are under the carbon intensity cap. Prefer those suppliers who enable successful outcomes. Then use the trip¡¯s cost and the post-trip success rating to illuminate the value of traveling for each goal.
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The 'Less travel, better results' strategy is designed to achieve goals that matter today. Perhaps it will endure for the next thirty years.