Last Updated on: March 20, 2025 at 3:44 pm
Businesses can unlock efficiency—or quietly drain budgets—depending on how they enforce travel policies. Even with a travel management platform in place, the balance between self-booking and manager-booking travel plays a crucial role in cost control and policy compliance.
Automated policy enforcement ensures that travellers make cost-effective decisions without unnecessary roadblocks. The right policies serve as invisible guides, helping businesses maintain control while allowing employees the flexibility to book efficiently.
Despite automation, gaps in policy enforcement can lead to inefficiencies and missed savings. By examining data from companies with different booking styles, this article highlights where businesses can refine policies to maximize cost savings and compliance.
This article explores how automated policy enforcement helps businesses cut costs and improve compliance. By analyzing data from two companies with distinct self-booked and manager-booked travel styles, we’ll highlight where businesses can refine policies to maximize efficiency while balancing flexibility and control.
We analyzed two of our top clients, whom we believe are the most suitable examples, to understand how self-booked versus manager-booked travel impacts cost and compliance. Their distinct travel management styles provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of automated policy enforcement.
In this article, we'll take a look at:
For many companies, self-booking is the go-to approach. It gives travellers the freedom to choose their own flights while keeping things in check with an approval process. Travellers onboarded on the platform select their flights, and bookings move forward once approved by a manager. This usually works best when employees understand company policies and know how to make cost-conscious choices.
In some cases, managers handle travel bookings, especially for travellers unfamiliar with the platform, last-minute trips, or group travel. Since managers typically enforce policies, this approach guarantees compliance and budget control. But it can also mean an extra workload for the managers and less flexibility for travelers.
To preface this, there’s no definitive rule on which approach is better. The key is understanding when to use each method based on the specific corporate travel scenario and company priorities. This ensures you maximize the efficiency of your travel management platform.
Self-booked flights tend to be 20% more expensive than manager-booked ones. However, relying solely on manager bookings is neither sustainable nor an optimal use of a travel platform.
Finding the right balance between policies and traveller education leads to better platform use.
Company B’s tighter controls help keep costs closer, while Company A’s looser approach results in higher spending but fewer rejected bookings.
Company A’s self-booked flights were 20% more expensive on average. Nearly half of them exceeded the median fare. Why? No budget thresholds were enforced, allowing travelers to select more expensive options that often required manual approval, leading to rejected bookings and delays.
Company B, which had structured approval processes and budget controls in place, saw only a 5% difference between self- and manager-booked flights.
Decentralized booking leads to more policy exceptions and higher costs due to lack of automation.
At TruTrip, 90% of bookings are approved without much inspection, yet some still require manual approvals for every booking—causing further delays.
A 2-day booking delay can increase flight costs by 23%. Without automated approval workflows, unnecessary manual interventions can inflate costs and slow down the booking process.
Automation should reduce roadblocks, not increase restrictions. The right approach optimizes both self- and manager-booked travel by introducing intelligent controls that maintain flexibility while ensuring efficiency and compliance.
A one-size-fits-all policy rarely works in corporate travel. By leveraging real-time analytics, businesses can refine their policies based on traveler behavior, spending trends, and booking patterns. Data insights can highlight:
By continuously analyzing travel data, companies can fine-tune policies to ensure they align with cost-saving goals and compliance requirements.
Last-minute bookings tend to drive up costs. Implementing lead time requirements can significantly impact overall savings. Companies that enforce booking windows see reduced airfare costs and fewer booking rejections. This approach doesn’t restrict travelers but encourages proactive planning:
Many travel inefficiencies stem from a lack of awareness rather than deliberate non-compliance. Training travellers to book smarter can bridge gaps in cost savings and policy adherence. Effective strategies include:
Empowered travellers make better decisions, reducing the need for excessive approvals and policy enforcement.
Manual approval processes slow down bookings and increase operational costs. By integrating automated workflows, businesses can streamline approvals without compromising control. Key strategies include:
Automation doesn’t mean losing oversight—it ensures that policy enforcement is efficient, responsive, and adaptable to real-world scenarios.
Instead of reacting to high travel costs, proactive automation allows companies to steer spending strategically—without micromanaging travellers. The result? Lower costs, better compliance, and a frictionless travel experience.
Whether self-booked or manager-booked, your travel management approach can quietly impact costs, compliance, and efficiency. TruTrip’s data-driven travel management gives you the insights needed to spot inefficiencies, refine approval processes, and enforce policies without adding friction.
See where your current processes can be optimized. Book a demo today and take the guesswork out of business travel.
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