15+ Best Corporate Discount Travel Sites and Blogs
When you’re a frequent traveler, you see lots of discount opportunities. But if you don’t qualify for senior citizen, active military, or veteran status, you often end up paying full price for services. What you might not know, though, is that there are a plethora of discounts for corporate travelers. So, if you’re heading out on business, you could be entitled to some perks and benefits you’re not taking advantage of yet. From reward programs to upgrades and cashback, here are the top blogs and platforms you should use when traveling for work.
Table of Contents
1. Transportation Deals 2. Discounts and Rewards in Lodging 3. Entertainment Discounts 4. Meal Discounts 5. General Discounts
1. Transportation Deals
What’s your preferred method to get to your travel destination? No matter which kind of transportation you choose, it must be cost-effective. But since the COVID-19 pandemic, it also has to be safe and sanitary. If you’re a travel manager sending your staff on a trip, this factor is more stringent than the price, too. It’s better to be flexible with your rates than to use transportation that could be dangerous to your employees. You can still get reasonable prices for all your preferences. Keep you, your staff, and your budget healthy by using these discount travel tips.
Rental Cars
Renting a car before the COVID-19 pandemic was hard enough. Now, trying to find a car rental for your work trip can be like finding a needle in a haystack. And the cost may be more than flying and using rideshares put together. But with these top rewards programs, you can get the most bang for your buck when you do choose the driving route:
Hertz Gold Plus Rewards
With nearly 3,000 locations in the United States, Hertz competes with the big dogs. The Gold Plus Rewards program gives you one point for one dollar spent, including fees, taxes, and surcharges. These points are good for free rentals, and you can book through sites like Expedia and Kayak.
Enterprise Plus
For worldwide travelers, Enterprise is the go-to rental car provider. More than 8,000 locations offer nearly two million vehicles, including luxury cars and moving trucks. The Enterprise Plus points give you one point for each qualifying dollar spent toward the rental vehicle.
Avis Preferred
Avis is almost everywhere Budget Rental is since the two companies have merged. But Avis has its own discount program, giving drivers one point per dollar spent on rentals and two points for every dollar on accessories. If you book at least 12 cars per year, you can qualify for all these programs. The cost savings turn into hundreds or thousands of dollars on your travel budget.
Airlines
Looking for ways to save money on flights? Sign up for these programs before your next trip:
AA Corporate
American Airlines’ Corporate program offers perks for business travelers. You can change employee trips, use waivers for change fees and upgrades, and passengers get preferred seat selections. Earn miles for your company instead of the individual passenger, and use those toward future flight deals, car rentals, and more.
United Airlines PerksPlus
When you register a traveler with your company’s PerksPlus account, any United-linked flight earns you points. Use your points on one-way and round-trip flights.
Delta
Delta’s corporate travel perks might be the best flight-booking timesaver yet. Their platform lets you skip the travel websites and create your company account directly with Delta. Then, your employees can join the Meeting Network and book their own flights. The air travel expenses are paid for on the Delta UATP card. At the same time, your company earns SkyMiles for free rewards. Keep in mind that you’ll need to work with the airline directly to use your free points. They’re not redeemable with Expedia groups and other search engine travel tools. Using the airline’s site directly may also give you bonus points.
Other Travel
Once your traveler gets to their destination, how will they get around? It’s not always worth the expense of renting a car, but rideshares are an option in every city from Atlanta to New York and beyond. Rideshare discount programs with Lyft, in particular, are beneficial for business travelers. You’ll get perks like:
- Personal ride credit for every five business rides
- The ability to add a corporate card to your account for everyone authorized to use, and autopay options
- Receipt forwarding for every business payment which sends to a designated email
- Auto-expensing of business profiles to turn trip records into itemized receipts
- Rides to and from an airport can give you airline rewards
Lyft is also consistently ranked in the top three as the safest rideshare company. You can confidently send a driver to pick up your travelers, knowing they’re in good hands.Do you fly a lot? You might want to check out how to Get to Your Flight Faster with these Airport Security Tips
2. Discounts and Rewards in Lodging
Hotel deals are essential when you have to send employees for overnight stays. And for a company that has multiple business travelers, you need a company that makes booking a large volume of rooms seamless, like Hotel Engine.
Benefits of Using the Hotel Engine Lodging Platform
Hotel Engine is used by more than 40,000 businesses worldwide to handle all-things lodging-related. The platform is free to join and makes managing reservations a breeze. Travel managers can easily set maximum nightly rates authorizing members to make, book, and modify their own reservations. From the dashboard, authorized members quickly see everyone’s travel plans at a glance. The company works with hundreds of thousands of hotels to get you the best travel deals for your getaway — up to 60% off. Whether you’re sending your crew to Las Vegas or looking for the best hotel in Miami, Hotel Engine has you covered. Even better is the “double-dipping” you get by using their Hotel Engine Loyalty Program. Business travelers can accrue their usual points with their hotel loyalty programs and earn Hotel Engine Rewards simultaneously. You can apply the platform’s points toward discounted and free stays at hotels and all-inclusive resorts. It’s a rare perk in the travel industry. Hotel Engine members enjoy the member support and cost-savings of using the platform while still getting the loyalty points of using their favorite hotels. Some third-party hotel loyalty programs include:
- Choice Hotels
- Wyndham Hotels
- Hilton Honors
- IHG Rewards
See also: 6 Tips for Getting Your Employees Onboarded with Hotel Engine
3. Entertainment Discounts
Cheap flights and a hot rate on a high-star hotel are fantastic, but when you can add entertainment discounts, you’ve made the trip even better. The work itinerary is over, and your employees have some time on their hands. Give them the option of enjoying their free schedule at a discounted rate for certain types of entertainment.
Working Advantage
The Working Advantage program is exclusively for companies and their employees. Members receive discounts and other perks at theme parks like Orlando’s Disney, sporting events, movies, and many more venues. Every member will also get discounts on rental cars, shopping discounts on their favorite brands, and last-minute travel deals.
Entertainment Benefits Group
An employer-sponsored program, Entertainment Benefits Group is “the largest corporate travel and entertainment benefits program in the world.” Over 40,000 corporate clients consisting of 50 million employees enjoy the perks of membership. You get discounts on theme parks, movies, special events, and other types of entertainment. Express deals and vacation packages are all more affordable with the EBG program. These types of entertainment bonuses aren’t usually included in work-related travel packages. But, when you sign your company up with any of the programs listed, your employees can use the perks for company and personal travel.
Got an upcoming business trip with some free time? Plan yourself an adventure with: Top Day Trips from Business Travel Destinations
4. Meal Discounts
Your travel dates are set. You’ve set your employees up to book flights and lodging on their own. Now, it’s time to figure out their meal deals. You can give them a per diem, of course, and let them handle the logistics independently. But you can’t earn points that way, as you could with a business credit card. No, you don’t have to give every employee carte blanche access to the company’s funds. However, you can assign them their own card, with a spending limit, if you use a credit card company that offers this benefit. Each card has its own number and functions like a regular credit card. The receipts go to the primary cardholder’s account so that you can monitor spending for individuals. The points also go to the company, meaning your points accrue substantially faster than they would with a per diem.
More Discounts
In the meantime, you can also sign your company for meal discount programs. You’ll save money and earn points. Check out these popular dining rewards:
DoorDash Employee DashPass
With this DashPass, employees get $0 delivery fees and reduced service fees on every order. You’ll also get bonus promo codes for future meals.
Orbitz Dining
Join the Orbitz Dining program to earn Orbucks, redeemable for your vacation rentals and other free perks.
Neighborhood Nosh
Members get 5% and 10% back when they order from thousands of restaurants in the program. You can link a card, and your authorized employees can use it to pay for their meals. Corporate travel meals add up fast. Why not get discounts and rewards for all the travelers you’re sending on business trips?Related: Per Diem and Taxes: Top 7 Frequently Asked Questions (With Answers)
5. General Discounts
When you travel for work, you can still use personal discounts where they’re applicable. Whether you’re sending someone on a trip or you’re heading there yourself, you may be able to get discounts from these memberships:
AAA
The purpose of AAA is peace of mind when you’re driving, but the membership gives you more than roadside assistance. Members get discounts on purchases from approved vendors, fuel rewards, and more.
AARP
As a member, you’ll get perks from AARP like discounted car and train travel, restaurant deals, and fuel rewards.
Health Insurance
Many health insurance companies today focus on wellness. Check with your insurance provider to see how you can earn rewards while you’re traveling by doing things like eating healthy, working out, and increasing your step count.
Sign up for Travel Alerts
If your travel dates are flexible, you can also benefit from discounted travel rates. Get alerts by signing up on travel company sites, and they’ll tell you when the best fares are available. For instance, if you want to send someone to Los Angeles for a client meeting, but the dates aren’t set in stone, log into your favorite flight app. Set the filters for price, time, and location. Don’t forget to account for PST, CST, and EST time zones. Wait until the app alerts you that the best airfare is now available, and then grab the tickets before they’re gone. Discover: 5 Must-Have Apps for Managing Business Travel in 2022
Conclusion
Safety is your top priority when traveling for business or sending your employees out of town — followed by cost-efficiency. But you don’t need the expense of travel agencies to create safe and affordable itineraries. The next time you’re planning corporate travel trips, use easy, free-to-join platforms like Hotel Engine and the discount sites above. You’ll get the best deals with top-rated companies, maximizing your perks and minimizing your travel budget usage. Sign up for your free Hotel Engine account now and start saving up to 60% on corporate lodging!
