The Frugal Leader’s Travel and Meeting Policy
An updated T&E Plus rerun and some fun as we move into Memorial Day and the summer travel season .... enjoy the long weekend!
New Travel, Entertainment and Meeting Policy
- All travel must be approved by your manager, the manager’s director, the managing director, the operations leader, the shared services vice president, the chief financial officer and the chief executive officer. Please submit all travel requests four months in advance. Requested travel will route through the pre-approval database which is in the cloud server on cloud 9.
- All large and small meetings, events, conferences or other gatherings of 2 or more people must be registered on the portal which is located at the home page. Click on the link called meetings/events, then click on “register meeting,” then click on “why I want to have this meeting,” then click on “the return on investment” link to ensure your meeting returns value to the company, then click on “provide business case” as to why your meeting is important, then click on the link called, “why Las Vegas cannot be your destination for your meeting,” then click on the link called “how to save money on your meeting,” then fill out the registration page. If you have any more questions on meetings, please read numbers 10 and 11 below.
- All travel must be booked by finding the lowest fare such as using the online booking tool, the airline webfares, the travel agency, your sister’s travel agency, the newspapers ads, or the online travel aggregator sites. We recognize that this may take you three or more hours, but if you can find a fare that is cheaper, you must take the time to search in order to save money. It is expected that you will take flights that have lengthy layovers if the price is less.
- Ancillary fees will not be reimbursed for baggage, special seats, advance boarding or onboard Internet connectivity. Because we expect you to work 24/7, there is no reason why you need 3 pair of shoes, 4 suits, gym clothes, large containers of fluids or other items that would cause you to need luggage that needs to be checked. You will be in the office or meeting the entire time.
- Please stay with relatives or friends to reduce your expenses. While you’re there, please raid their refrigerator to eliminate meal expenses. If you are traveling to a location without relatives or friends, please make new friends online using Twitter. If that fails, please retrieve the reusable tentage from the local office.
- Laundry expenses are not reimbursable. Please use your relative’s or friend’s washer and dryer.
- Ground transportation must be provided by your favorite shoe manufacturer and your feet. If your journey is more than five miles, please be sure to carry maps of the local bus or subway route with you. You will not be reimbursed for these expenses because you should be willing to walk as our Health Benefit costs are increasing and you need to lose weight.
- Allowable client entertainment includes volunteering, going to the park or taking advantage of free events.
- The T&E corporate card must be used for all reimbursable expenses. Our company has no reimbursable expenses. Any accrued points must be turned over to your manager, the manager’s director, the managing director or the chief financial officer so that they may use to buy valuable products, such as soap and toilet paper for our company bathrooms because we have cut all janitorial supplies from our budget.
- Internal meetings and events can only be conducted by virtual mediums. The approved virtual mediums include your personal cell phones, your personal computer and webcams.
- External business development meetings and events can be held at the local park. In the case of inclement weather, please use parks with gazebos, canopies or buildings. If you require client entertainment, please bring a deck of cards. No gambling is allowed. If you require bug spray, please purchase at your own expense.
- All audiovisual and production requirements must be supplied by using flashlights, hand shadows and drawings on the back of the napkin.
- All travelers and meeting attendees must bring travel sleep sacks, pillows, blankets and energy bars on all trips because you never know when a volcano will erupt, a storm will ensue, or a crisis will occur. Dealing with the unexpected increases your tolerance for adverse situations so that you can adapt to our working environment.All travelers should go to the local grocery store and eat from their "sample platters" to reduce food expenses. Meeting planners should plan to have meetings in hotels that host weddings and bar/bat mitzvahs so that meeting attendees can snitch food from other guests in order to reduce food and beverage expenses.
- All travelers should go to the local grocery store and eat from their "sample platters" to reduce food expenses. Meeting planners should plan to have meetings in hotels that host weddings and bar/bat mitzvahs so that meeting attendees can snitch food from other guests in order to reduce food and beverage expenses.
- IMHO, establish KPIs and SLAs to measure the success of your SMMP and your T&E program that may be managed by your TMC, MMC and DMCs. For travel, it is best to conduct audits and review prices, such as the ATP, ADR, and don't forget to look at prices in your GDS. Find out how much you are spending on your PNR pulls from your OBT. If you are unsure if your spend is in compliance, check your GL codes through your AP and don't forget SIC and MCC spend data in your Spend Radar reports. For meetings, be sure to always check your BEOs and F&B, and be sure to use CMPs and CMMs to plan and manage your meetings and events. If you are unsure, learn more about T&E and SMM, join GBTA, ACTE, MPI and PCMA to earn CPEs and obtain your GLP and GTP.
- Any violations or noncompliance to this policy will be reported by our data metrics, from the ERP, the OBT, the TMC, the EMS, and the SMM technology, that we build, analyze, preview, revise, reproduce, report and validate a few times each day.
IF YOU and your organization need a "real" travel and meeting policy, contact me as I have many templates and examples for you.
A BIG THANK YOU to all of the meetings and travel leaders who continue to support me through the T&E blog, LinkedIn groups, client engagements and most important, your friendship.
Thank you for visiting the T&E Plus Blog on expense management, travel management, business meetings, events, incentives, strategic meetings management, entertainment, virtual meetings, tickets, hotels, airlines, ground transportation plus more...
Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, SSGB, CTE, CTT
• Author, Strategic Meetings Management: The Strategy Quick Reference Guide (2011)
• Co-Author, Strategic Meetings Management Handbook (2011)
• Meetings Management Mover and Shaker as selected by Corporate and Incentive Travel Magazine (2010)
• Top 20 Changemaker who influenced the meetings management industry by Corporate Meetings and Incentives (2008)
• Best Meeting Practitioner as selected by Business Travel News (2007)
*Debi is proud to be a regular contributor to Business Travel Executive Magazine.
*Debi is proud to be one of only seven 2011 Editorial Board members for Hotel Business Review at http://www.hotelexecutive.com/ for Conferences & Meetings.
*Debi created two LinkedIn groups (GBTA SMM and T&E Plus) that now claim over 2,000 worldwide members combined.
Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements; Topics vary per conference
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June 21 - EMC Webinar
July – GBTA Convention
August 23- EMC Webinar
September – Albany
October 25 - EMC Webinar
December 2 - EMC Webinar
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