Business trips are now part of everyday life again for many companies. But if companies do not have their own in-house travel management, then planning, booking, invoicing etc. can rapidly develop into a mammoth task that not only devours valuable resources but can also impact employee satisfaction. Ultimately, no travel manager wants to lay claim to a missed rental car reservation or a hotel booking that doesn’t meet expectations. A much better way to handle all of this in the age of digitalisation and artificial intelligence is with Business Travel – an online booking platform that includes a fully integrated travel agency service from Volkswagen Financial Services¹⁾.
Booking business trips via chat
VW FS | Business Travel allows employees to book, manage and invoice business trips really easily via an app or website. And what’s great about this is that the entire travel management process can be handled in an online chat. For example, if the employee writes “I need a hotel in Berlin tomorrow”, they will be sent a list of suitable hotels to choose from generally within less than a minute. The travel agents at VWFS | Business Travel already take account of the travel guidelines and budget requirements of the requesting employee or the company in question. The chosen hotel can then be booked at the click of a button. Train connections, flights and rental cars can of course also be booked according to the same principle. All booking details are transferred automatically to the travel expense accounting – and the user can also scan receipts for out-of-pocket expenses while on the move and upload them conveniently. A further practical feature is that employees have the option of requesting and booking services for up to five colleagues in addition to their own travel. And should something nevertheless come up and a trip have to be cancelled, for example, a chat message also suffices in this case along the lines of: “Please cancel all my trips for this week.” It couldn’t be simpler ...
Central travel management
The processing of business trips is managed centrally via the travel management system from Voya, a Volkswagen Group company. The travel professionals look after everything from management of guidelines to booking to billing and therefore all of the necessary travel management processes. Comprehensive travel reporting in real time is also produced within this system. Companies can see at a glance from this management summary which hotels are booked most frequently, for example, and can potentially negotiate better rates with these providers. Bottom line, while travel management was once a mammoth task, practically no effort is required now in many cases thanks to VW FS | Business Travel.
- Digital planning, booking, payment and billing via web application or smartphone
- Ad-hoc bookings possible
- Simple rebooking or cancellation
- Individual travel planning based on corporate travel guidelines
- Linking of different means of transport such as aircraft, train and rental car
- Personal service via chat or phone
- Integrated travel expense accounting
- Document upload via smartphone
- Boarding cards directly on the smartphone
- All services paid for centrally – no expenses for employees
Advantages for companies
- Full cost control and management thanks to digital approval processes
- Transparent pricing model, best-buy principle
- Significant savings compared to bookings via the traditional travel agency
- Comprehensive travel reporting of all bookings in real time
- Web-based dashboard
- Employees can be contacted via push notifications
More detailed information on VW FS | Business Travel can be found online at: www.vwfs.de/businesstravel
Contact: businesstravel@vwfs.com
News on the topic
All information applies to the German market.
1)The service is provided by Volkswagen Leasing GmbH.
The subsidiaries of Volkswagen Financial Services AG and their sister company – Volkswagen Bank GmbH – provide a range of services under the common designation “Volkswagen Financial Services”. These are bank services (provided by Volkswagen Bank GmbH), leasing services (provided by Volkswagen Leasing GmbH), insurance services (provided by Volkswagen Versicherung AG and Volkswagen Autoversicherung AG) as well as mobility services (provided by Volkswagen Leasing GmbH among others). In addition, insurance products from other providers are arranged.
Stand: 12.12.2022
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