This month’s Travel Management Tip #6 is: Manage the Company’s Travel Policies – Embracing and communicating the goals of the program help to gain support from everyone in the organization.

Compliance in supporting the policy can lead to minimums of 15 to 20 percent savings in air fares and help to support any programs with suppliers you have negotiated. Support of the programs also improves the likelihood that the suppliers will renew next year.

With today’s current economy, we are often asked how companies can reduce travel costs while still being able to travel in business or first class – especially when travelling internationally. Well, here are a couple of ideas:

• Purchase Coach And Use Personal Miles For Business Class
When traveling internationally personal frequent flier points can be used for upgrading as opposed to purchasing retail business or first class tickets. This will be a tremendous savings to the company.
• Utilize Business Class Tickets From A Wholesaler
Travel Management Companies such as Safe Harbors have access to discounted or wholesale business class tickets. These tickets are typically restricted with very few opportunities to make changes but the savings can be as high as 50% per ticket.

Strategies such as these have always been around but there isn’t a better time than now to save money and arrive at your destination ready to conduct business.

I hope these tips help and as always, we thank you for your business!

Jay Ellenby
President/CEO

The Art of Frequent Flyer Management

Since the inception of the frequent-user-programs/frequent flyer programs in the travel industry, credited to American Airlines as the initiator, the air carriers have spent quite a bit of money researching various concepts to build product loyalty. They have expanded these programs to include money spent when using credit cards, hotel stays, renting a car, dinning out and a plethora of other ways you can accumulate points.

We decided we wanted to raise the question: Are you managing your frequent user programs well?

Currently, credit cards, hotel nights and car rentals, amongst other earning potential helps guide your buying decisions. Why not ensure you are maximizing your earnings.

Rate your habits: Am I on the road a lot and can be best served by multiple program memberships?
Or – Do I only travel once a month and should consider one loyalty program?
Balance your point accumulation between direct earnings in the carrier program and their partners – Credit card – Hotels and Car –

There are bargains available. Perhaps this is not the time to redeem miles for air tickets and hotel stays; but consider using the points for dinning out, theatre tickets or gifts for family and friends. Most programs offer other ways for you to use up your points, check on-line with your preferred program.

Book when available: There are no set rules on when it is best to book program points.
Insights to consider:
On legacy carriers seat inventory opens 11 months prior to departure
If it is a school vacation or holiday – available seats will be very limited
Carriers only provide limited inventory for redemption
Planning in advance is helpful, so is flexibility to travel alternate dates or checking close to departure
Consider mid-week to mid-week travel

Watch for Fees: many programs have fees for last minute redemption, transfer of points and other such tasks. Be certain to read the fine print in your member guides.

Some added thoughts to consider:

• Did you know that 1 ½ trips to Africa earns enough miles for a free domestic ticket?
• Did you know that you can earn miles on all of our missionary/humanitarian fare tickets on many of our special fare programs?
• Did you know that on the lowest booking codes British Airways and other carriers do not allow for mileage accrual, or they may only allow mileage to accrual at 25% of the mileage flown?

We invite you to add your thoughts and comments about your experiences here on our blog.

• Minimize changes
Get a better handle on your schedule. Multiple airline change fees can eventually cost more than the ticket if your trips are planned poorly. Buying non-refundable versus refundable and then making multiple changes adds up quickly.
If the fare is $450 for a non-refundable ticket and the penalty to make a change is $150, the ticket for the same trip now costs $600 (if at the same fare level); two more changes the cost is now $900.
For travel in the US it is possible to find refundable fares that are less than $900 in some markets. The value is to consider your type of travel needs. Ask yourself: Am I likely to make multiple changes to my plans; if so, perhaps buying a refundable fare makes more sense.
Our travel councilors can help you to comparatively shop based on your specific travel needs.

In our continuing effort to ensure that we at Safe Harbors Travel Group are providing the best pricing in multiple travel market segments we are able to offer special air pricing that supports humanitarian efforts. If your travel takes you to areas of the world where you perform humanitarian duties; such as Africa or Southeast Asia for example; you may qualify for this special program.

Let us help you to take advantage of the savings. When you are working with our travel consultants share the purpose of the trip and we will work with you to apply these special fares where applicable.

The savings opportunities are out there; let our team of experts help you to access these great programs.

The economic predictions for 2009 are not encouraging and the news outlets make it very difficult to keep a positive outlook. Most businesses have been impacted in some way or another and the travel industry is usually at the top of the list.

We know you are under tremendous pressure to reduce costs, so we have developed cost savings programs to help you through these tough times. Please take a moment to download and review our Top 10 Ways to Weather an Economic Downturn. Following these tips have resulted in tremendous savings for many of our clients without altering their travel patterns or damaging relations with their customers. We hope these tips will help you get the most from your travel dollars!

To tap into additional travel discounts, you might consider Ministry Travel, a company that Safe Harbors acquired, which specializes in discounted contracted international airfares. An additional division, Humanitarian Travel, enables us to bring similar discounts to organizations that engage in humanitarian work around the world.

Safe Harbors has been in business for 24 years and we have certainly seen our share of ups and downs, but as crazy as it sounds I still feel optimistic about 2009. Naturally, we are always looking to improve our services and automation. We are currently in the process of upgrading our reservation systems, databases and methods of delivering our products.

However, our systems and programs mean nothing unless we are providing the most important services required. We realize the importance of being there when you need us. When you contact us, you expect immediate response. When we give you a quote, you expect the best price possible. It is our number one goal to make sure you are receiving the best pricing and getting quick response times 100% of the time. Lastly, we are grateful for your business and I encourage you to share your challenges with us when purchasing travel. Let Safe Harbors be your solution when managing your travel program.

Happy New Year and thank you for allowing us to service your travel needs.

Jay Ellenby
President & CEO

Attention All International Travelers

The US Government will be requiring all Air Carriers to provide a more detailed list of those passengers on board each flight entering the US, beginning some time this year. Yes, you are correct, they currently do this to some degree; but, the details are the key:

• Traveler’s Name – must be exactly as it appears on the identification being used.

• If the ID has the middle name spelled out so must the ticket.

• Everyone occupying a seat needs an ID.

• If there is not an exact match a boarding pass will not print. The traveler will be required to check-in with the carrier and will experience additional security screening.

• Carriers will now need to include the traveler’s date-of-birth and gender.

What can you do to prepare? You do not need to do anything at this point, because the Air Carriers are still working to construct the formatting for the required information. Once the structure and reporting details are worked out we will provide instructions on how to update your individual profiles.

Stay Tuned!