Tag: travel agency

Where To Find Hotels

When a person decides to travel, usually the first thing they plan is which hotel to stay at. This person could either choose to bypass this planning and simply arrive at their destination and hope to find a hotel with availability and near the location where he or she hopes to be, or this person could find and make reservations at a hotel prior to arriving at the chosen travel destination. Of course, the second option is the best. No one wants to take a chance that they will not have a place to stay, especially if they are tired from traveling.

So, what is the best way to find hotels? Asking people for recommendations will work if the person traveling knows other people who have been to the same location. However, this is not always the best way, since different people want to be close to different things while on their trip. Another way to find out is by going to a travel agency and asking for their help, but even then, they are going to want to know where you want to be close to.

Deciding on which hotel to stay at usually requires the use of maps, unless the person has been to the destination several times and knows exactly where he or she wants to stay. Maps are going to provide all of the necessary information a person will need in order to decide which hotel to stay at. There are many maps available that are detailed to specific cities showing exactly where most of the hotels are located and their distance to other places of interest around their location. These maps can be found on the internet by typing in the desired destination and pulling up a city map with different businesses highlighted. Another resource is travel agencies, which can provide clients with maps along with suggestions based on the needs and desires of the traveler. Through the cities travel and tourism office, a person can get many brochures and maps regarding the area which will also give the traveler a good idea on which hotel to stay at based on features and location. Certain hotels websites will also have a map provided that will show where that particular hotel is located and what is around it, along with the distance from the hotel to popular attractions, sites and other businesses such as restaurants, gas stations and supermarkets.

Once a person has decided on a hotel, it is always a good idea to request a map from the hotel. Some hotels will have maps that have information about the area around the hotel itself, making travel plans even easier for the guest. These maps may be different then what is available online or what a person can find through other resources.

No matter where the map comes from, it is important for the person planning their travel to become familiar with the destination prior to arrival, including knowing where their hotel is and how far it is from where the person either needs or wants to be.

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Why Online Maps Are Handy

Today, most people spend a considerable amount of time online. There is also more and more people spending time traveling then in decades past. Some reasons include more people traveling for business, and also the cost of travel is more affordable, with more options available for booking reservations for various aspects of travel including flights, hotels, and cars. Because more people are traveling, and so much time is spent on the internet, a fairly new concept has emerged online. Online maps have become very popular over the last few years. Most people that have used the internet and have also traveled have probably taken advantage of online maps and for many reasons.

One reason is because of the amount of time people spend on the internet on a daily basis, they are already online so finding a map does not take up too much extra time. It is very easy to quickly get a map while working online. These maps are also very convenient because a person does not have to take the time to go to the more traditional places of obtaining such as at a travel agency, travel and tourism office or even a store. These maps can also be a cost saver since a person does not generally have to pay for them or the other services the online provider offers. This makes traveling last minute much easier for people, which happens quite often. People cannot always plan their trips with ample time to gather maps by other means, so having a variety of maps available from their computer is a real time saver and convenience.

By going online to find a map, a person simply types in their starting point and their final destination and an online map comes up, usually with the best travel route highlighted. Along with this map, usually the website will give travel directions to coincide with the map itself, giving the person the best of both types of directions, making it very easy to get to the desired destination with little problems. These maps can also show where points of interest to travelers are such as some hotels and restaurants.

There is absolutely no doubt, online maps are very handy, they allow people with limited time to gather good travel directions, which are for the most part quite reliable.
However, just like all things, they are not perfect. The savvy traveler will take the time to compare online maps with traditional maps. Comparing the two types of maps will help the traveler find out which one is best for him or her based on the particular needs of the individual. Online maps will provide details that other maps may not. However, the same is true for traditional maps, which will show things that the online map will not.

Traveling, whether for business or pleasure is something that takes time to plan, even if it is a last minute trip. The use of online maps certainly makes the task of preparing for trips a little less time consuming, making more time for other preparations needed for travel, making the whole experience a little more enjoyable.

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A Corporate Travel Policy that Works

It is a myth that employees who travel on business resent the corporate travel policy. The truth is that employees like to know what is expected of them and how to comply with a corporate policy as long as that policy is fair and gives them the ability to do what they need to do on the road. So a well thought out corporate travel policy is a benefit to the company and the business traveler alike.

If it has been given to you to put together a corporate travel policy, your mission from the stand point of the company is to develop a policy that standardizes business expenses, eliminates waste and excess on the road and puts some controls around that part of the business expense picture. So there are some definite focus areas you should include in the stated corporate policy including

*Reservations. The business can utilize a travel agent that is looking for the best deal for the company. The best rates can be identified and taken advantage of but only while making sure the business travelers needs and the business objective of the trip are satisfied. Requiring that employees utilize the corporate travel agent again is not unfair and it clarifies for the employee how to handle the situation.

*Use of credit. It is a bit of effort and expense to set up corporate credit cards that you can require your traveling employees to use. But by trapping expenses to the corporate account, you can get a record of a most of the business expenses that the employee is incurring. Many of the expenses of travel such as airline and hotel can be directly billed back to the company thus taking the issues out of the hands of the business traveler.

*Travel rewards. If you have your corporate travel coordinated by an internal or external travel agency, corporate accounts with the major airlines can be established so the frequent flyer miles can be collected by the business. As such, the business can redeem those miles and realize those benefits as a significant discount to apply against the travel budget.

*Per Diem. Your corporate travel policy must communicate clearly to the traveling employee what their limits are for hotel, rental car and meals on the road. You want to head off before it starts any tendency by the employee to go overboard with daily expenses. This part of the policy should be reviewed annually to update to current costs.

*Reporting. One of the chief complaints employees have about corporate travel policies are that the expense reporting system is cryptic and hard to fill out. You will give the employee a standardized form that each traveler in the company must fill out to get reimbursed for expenses while traveling. But review these forms and even design your own so the format is understandable and you have categories to cover all types of expenses the employee might encounter.
Along with these general categories, your corporate travel policies should include some leverage for employees who are faced with exceptional situations. Room and food expenses can vary widely depending on where the employee must travel. So you dont want to set the hotel limit to $125 per night because it is reasonable to stay in a comfortable hotel for that rate in Lincoln Nebraska but enforce that same limitation for an employee who must do business in New York City.

By creating a policy that in general protects the corporate budget but is also workable to employees who are about the company business, you will have a tool that will serve both company and employee interests and enable business travel to be what it was always intended to be a productive, business focused activity that achieves the goals of the enterprise.

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