CASE STUDY: Cost Savings

Corporate Travel Management (CTM) delivers 21% cost savings through the development of a strategic business travel management program.

Utilising in-depth diagnostic analysis and expert industry insights, CTM was able to determine best practice policies and influence booking behaviour, setting the client ahead of their cost-saving objectives.

Read on to find out how.

Client

National Electronics Retailer

Industry

Electronics/Retail

Focus

Cost savings

Objective

CTM helped a client cut costs and improve travel oversight by implementing a tailored policy and approval process that drove smarter, more transparent travel decisions.

Solutions

CTM analysed the client's travel purchasing behaviour to implement balanced policies that optimise cost savings, manage spend, and monitor ongoing efficiencies.

Outcome

The client achieved a 21% travel spend reduction, 40% less use of flexible fares, and a balanced 50:50 domestic airline market share within three months.

Objective

The client is a national electronics retailer with an annual travel spend of nearly $2 million.

CTM was engaged to review the company’s travel program with a clear objective: to reduce overall travel costs without compromising the volume or frequency of business travel. This involved designing and implementing a structured travel policy and approval process to support better decision-making and drive cost efficiencies.

CTM’s key objectives were to:

Introduce a formal travel policy and approval framework to guide purchasing behaviour and optimise savings.
Achieve a $250,000 reduction in annual travel expenditure.
Increase visibility and transparency across the company’s travel spend and booking trends.

Prior to CTM’s involvement, the absence of a formalised travel structure meant the business had limited oversight of how travel was being booked or how it aligned with operational needs. CTM identified several opportunities to introduce more strategic travel management practices, including:

Establishing clear guidelines around air travel to encourage more cost-effective booking behaviours.
Reducing reliance on a single preferred airline to open up greater flexibility and price competitiveness.
Re-evaluating the frequent use of fully flexible fares, which were often selected based on perception rather than actual need for flexibility.

By implementing a tailored travel policy backed by data-led insights, CTM was well-positioned to transform the client’s approach to travel, improving transparency, empowering smarter purchasing decisions, and supporting significant cost savings.

Solutions

CTM began by thoroughly analysing the client’s purchasing behaviour alongside their actual travel needs. Over a three-month review of booking and travel trends, CTM identified the right balance between flexible airfares and the cost-saving benefits of Best Fare of the Day.

Based on these insights, CTM was able to:

Introduce a formal ‘open-skies’ travel policy that leverages Best Fare of the Day across two airline networks.
Establish a 14-day advance purchase policy for domestic travel to capture the best restrictive fares.
Implement and oversee a pre-trip approval process to control spend.
Produce fortnightly Corporate Savings Reports to uncover ongoing savings opportunities per booking

Outcome

Within just three months of rolling out the new travel policy, the client saw a 21% reduction in travel spend—saving over $100,000—even as travel activity increased by 10%.

This impressive outcome accounted for 42% of the company’s annual travel savings target in the first quarter alone. The savings were driven by cutting the company’s reliance on costly fully-flexible fares by 40% and encouraging earlier domestic bookings.

Additionally, the introduction of a strict open-skies domestic airline policy shifted the market from a single airline monopoly to a balanced 50:50 split between two carriers. This change expanded access to better fares, flight options, and inclusions, giving the client more choice and cost efficiency.