Providing your employees the opportunity to travel abroad is certainly an incentive that they would work hard for. Most employees see international travel as a highly sought-after reward because, for them, this is a luxury — not merely a necessity.
Including international incentive travel in your list of employment perks, however, won’t be the cheapest thing that you can do. Booking a hotel room and budgeting for the employees’ daily meals, transportation expenses, and pocket money won’t come in cheap, especially if you plan on sending them for a three-day (or longer) getaway. You will also have to prepare to make quite a costly investment in their round-trip flight tickets as well.
Since purchasing plane tickets will be one of the most expensive investments your organization has to make for your international travel incentive program, you have to find ways to complete this task as cost-effective as possible. Below are some tips that business owners can follow to save some money on booking flights for their employees who will soon be availing of their international travel perk:
Book flights early.To get cheaper deals, book at least 30 days in advance. Big and small airlines always manage to sell their cheap tickets first.Most airlines also release only a fixed number of inexpensive airfares on each flight. Once you have set the date for your deserving employees’ holiday, go online to search for cheap flights to have better access to the really affordable airfares that usually get snapped up first.
Don’t schedule flights during peak season. Avoid scheduling your employees’ company-sponsored vacation duringsummer and other holiday seasons.Hotel rates are higher during such seasons and a lot of airlines usually price their tickets based on seasonality as well. You will have a difficult time finding flights that are inexpensive during such periods. As much as possible, avoid scheduling your employees’ holiday anywhere near the school holidays and peak season so that the chances of you booking cheap flights will be higher.
Avoid booking flights that fall on weekends.Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday are the busiest travel days since they are highly convenient for the working population. In general, air tickets are cheapest duringmidweek. Consider having your employees travel any day between Tuesday and Thursday. If you’re also looking to save some more money, travel experts say that late night and mid-day flights are also usually cheaper than early morning and evening flights.
Book round-trip tickets.This is a no-brainer: you will always save money when you book a round-trip ticket. Be on the lookout for various promos and discounts that airlines today are offering to score better deals as well.
Purchase non-refundable tickets. Finally, non-refundable tickets are always cheaper than refundable ones. If you are 100% sure of the travel dates of your employees, book non-refundable tickets for them in advance.
