Top 4 corporate travel management companies in San Diego

If you’re looking for corporate travel agencies in San Diego to help you manage your business travel program, there are several companies for you to check out and consider. 

Many traditional business travel companies in San Diego have dedicated corporate travel consultants and professionals that help you manage business trips and travel programs. 

However, a local travel management company with a physical office isn’t always the best choice for modern business travel because it’s unlikely that it’ll offer the range of features you need to streamline your travel program. 

Working with a travel management company that doesn’t offer the scope of features you need will mean you’ll continue to experience the same limitations you’ve faced in the past. Here, we take a look at: 

• The core features to look for when choosing a travel management company
• A review of the top four corporate travel management companies in San Diego

Features to look for when choosing a travel management company in San Diego

Many travel management companies for businesses in San Diego offer travel technology to assist with booking processes or have dedicated agents to help you book your trips. 

Keep in mind, however, that a local travel management company with physical offices isn’t necessarily the most suitable option to help manage your company’s business travel needs, because it might simply not have all the features you need to optimize your travel program. 

Choosing a travel management company that doesn’t offer all of the features you need leaves you back at square one with all of the same limitations you faced in the past. 

Here, we explore the essential features you need to look out for when comparing corporate travel companies in San Diego. The following features will help you reduce costs, improve operations for business travelers, and optimize your entire travel management program. 

• Extensive travel inventories: It’s essential that the travel management company you choose gives you access to comprehensive inventories of transportation and accommodation, as well as enabling you to compare prices, dates, and offers that best suit your travel needs.
• Built-in approval workflows: Embedding your travel approval workflows and travel policy into your travel management company’s platform helps you increase policy compliance rates and eliminates the need to manage travel and expenses via long email threads. 
• Centralized invoice collection: Some travel management companies don’t act as a single vendor meaning that you’ll still need to collect and collate invoices from various companies. Travel management companies that offer a system that consolidates all of your monthly invoices into one single vendor invoice can save you a lot of time and hassle.
• Flexible booking options: Flexible booking options enable businesses to accommodate any last-minute changes to trip dates or cancellations after booking for free or at a reasonable cost.
• 24/7 Customer support: Unexpected events are inevitable in business travel, and you need to know that your travel management company will be there to help you should things go wrong. A prompt, easy-to-access customer support function is essential to help your travelers manage any issues that arise.
• Reporting capabilities: The ability to access travel data that is broken down by individual business travelers, mode of transportation, booking type, and cancellations, helps you carry out significant spend optimization activities. 

The 4 best corporate travel companies for businesses based in San Diego

Your business deserves a travel management company that’s equipped to serve your unique needs, industry, and budget. 

Let’s explore the four best business travel companies for businesses based in San Diego.

1. TravelPerk

TravelPerk is a full-service travel management company with an all-in-one digital platform for corporate travel. 

TravelPerk’s 2021 acquisition of business travel specialist Next Travel — a leader in US business travel — helped the company position itself as the top corporate travel management choice not just in San Diego but across the United States. 

TravelPerk’s centralized and cutting-edge platform, with self-management at its core, automates the entire business travel booking process from start to finish.

The company offers access to the world’s largest travel inventory for flights and accommodation, as well as the most comprehensive range of corporate travel features in the industry. These include FlexiPerk, an add-on that allows users to cancel their travel plans up to two hours before departure with a guaranteed refund of 80%, and a carbon offsetting program. 

As well as these innovative features, TravelPerk users also benefit from: 

As well as these extensive features, TravelPerk also provides a solution for meetings and events management and the ability to book alternative transportation options, such as trains and car rentals directly from the TravelPerk platform. 

TravelPerk’s full-service platform and features provide you with the end-to-end travel management platform you need to streamline, integrate, and optimize your travel management programs.

As you read on, you’ll notice that TravelPerk is the only company that focuses solely on corporate travel management and the needs of your business, providing you with exceptional travel experiences at the best price. 

Want to learn more about how TravelPerk can optimize your business’s corporate travel program by managing all aspects of your company’s business trips? Reach out to our experts today for a free demo.

2. Cadence

Cadence is a travel management company based in San Diego that provides services for corporate, leisure, and meetings and incentive travel. 

The company manages businesses’ travel programs and assigns travel agents to help them handle their travel policies and monitor spending patterns.

Although Cadence isn’t a corporate travel-first company, it offers the following travel management features and services:

• Online booking tool
• Itinerary management 
• Negotiated rates
• Travel alerts
• 24/7 traveler support
• Travel policy compliance 

While the company offers customers a range of helpful corporate travel features, it lacks several essential features that businesses need to optimize their corporate travel programs. 

For example, Cadence does not offer a comprehensive travel risk management solution that provides all of the support you need to ensure the safety of business travelers at all times. The company also doesn’t enable travelers to book any flight, hotel, car, or train at any rate, and cancel at any time — unlike TravelPerk and its FlexiPerk service. 

Additionally, the company doesn’t offer third-party integrations with expense tools that help businesses streamline their expense management processes, and offers no carbon offsetting program to neutralize a business’s carbon footprint. 

3. Balboa Travel 

Balboa Travel is a travel management company based in Southern California that offers corporate travel program management, business meetings and events management, and personal travel services. The company has also achieved Platinum Status Green Certification from the Green Business Bureau.

The company operates as a traditional travel management company which means that customers need to call or send an email to their travel experts and travel advisors to request trip management services. However, there is also a self-booking tool available. 

Balboa Travel provides the following corporate travel management features:

• Online booking tool
• Advanced pricing solutions
• Integrated traveler profiles
• Automated flight tracking and disruption notifications
• Duty of care delivery
• Reporting capabilities

Although Balboa Travel offers a good range of features to support travel arrangements, you don’t have access to Airbnb or the low-cost carriers that TravelPerk offers, which significantly reduces a business’s opportunity to enjoy cost savings.

While TravelPerk offers TravelCare, a comprehensive risk management solution, the company doesn’t provide any type of solution that oversees the safety of business travelers at all times.

Plus, while TravelPerk offers the FlexiPerk add-on that enables you to cancel trips up to two hours before departure, Balboa Travel is a traditional travel management agency that doesn’t offer the flexibility that corporate travelers need. 

4. Aer Travel 

Based in La Jolla, Aer Travel is a traditional management company that strives to provide “one-call convenience” travel services for both corporate and leisure travel.

Although Aer Travel isn’t a corporate travel-first management company, the company does offer the following corporate travel services specifically for business travel:

• Quality control program for every trip
• Online traveler profiles
• Up-to-date reporting
• Ticket holding/reservations before purchasing

The company doesn’t provide a self-booking tool that enables businesses to integrate their travel policies or automate trip approvals which is a significant downside for businesses looking for an intuitive travel management experience. 

Aer Travel’s inventories are also smaller than most corporate travelers need, and the company doesn’t offer the best corporate rates to help businesses reduce costs, unlike TravelPerk. 

Finally, the company doesn’t offer a carbon offsetting program, and it doesn’t provide an exhaustive risk management and traveler safety service. 

Boost your corporate travel management program with TravelPerk

Now that we’ve reviewed the best corporate travel management companies in San Diego, the choice is clear: TravelPerk’s travel management platform offers all the features you need to enhance your corporate travel experiences, save money, and protect business travelers. 

To learn more about how TravelPerk can take your business travel program to the next level, reach out today for a free, personalized demo.