Expense_Alert

Why travel bans rarely work

A travel stop by circular email is quickly sent. Within a few days almost every trip counts as business critical, because nobody has defined what that means or who decides in the individual case. Trips already booked go ahead, and nobody knows what cancelling them would cost. Nothing changes in the booking tool or on the corporate cards, so booking carries on.

Other consequences show up later. Corporate rates with airlines and hotels often depend on committed minimum volumes. If volume collapses, back charges or the loss of discounts follow. And a savings measure that was meant to be temporary often stays in place for months without a clear exit rule, long after the reason for it has passed.

Who this is for

Companies with around 75 regular travellers or more. The counterparts are the managing board and finance. Expense_Alert fits once a savings decision has been taken, and equally before that, if the plan should be ready for decision in the drawer.

What you receive

• A definition of which trips and events are business critical, and who decides
• Three prepared stages, from tighter rules to a travel ban with exceptions, each with an exit rule
• An immediate rule issued by management. It applies from the decision and does not wait for the revised travel policy
• Value thresholds for bookings without approval, a log for exceptions, and the settings for booking tool and corporate cards
• How to handle booked trips, planned trips, meetings and events, including contracts with minimum volumes
• Ready-made texts for managers, travellers and service providers
• A list of who implements what, where and by when, and the decision paper for management

What I need in advance

The travel policy, the reporting from your travel agency and the list of trips booked for the coming weeks. In addition, the planning of your meetings and events with their cancellation terms, your framework agreements and the contracts for your corporate cards. If Expense_Alert follows a travel cost diagnosis, most of this is already in hand.

What Expense_Alert does not deliver

I cancel nothing, rebook nothing and configure no systems myself. Your travel agency and service providers do that, following the roadmap. The roadmap names questions of employment law, tax law and co-determination.

Terms

Terms for the fixed daily fee are available on request. Expense_Alert covers two consulting days. Without a prior travel cost diagnosis, preparation is added. Travel costs are charged separately.

Confidentiality of your documents

For the roadmap, ExpenSight needs insight into your travel policy, your bookings, your contracts and your card data. Everything you hand over or describe in our conversations is treated as confidential. ExpenSight commits to the following:

1. Your documents and information are used solely to prepare your roadmap, including with AI tools that do not use content for training.
2. ExpenSight does not pass them on to third parties, in particular not to travel agencies, booking platforms, hotels, airlines, card issuers or other providers. This also applies to your contracts and terms.
3. Your documents do not appear in any publication, talk or seminar. General experience is only used where no conclusions can be drawn about your company or about individuals.
4. If your documents contain personal data, such as names of travellers, we conclude a data processing agreement before handover. Where it is sufficient for the roadmap, anonymised or aggregated reports will do.
5. Your documents are deleted 30 days after the roadmap is handed over, or earlier on request. The roadmap itself belongs to you.
6. This commitment applies without time limit, including after the engagement ends.
7. Excluded is information that is publicly known, that ExpenSight has lawfully received from third parties, or that must be disclosed due to legal obligations.

On request, ExpenSight will also sign your company's non-disclosure agreement.