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Some 88% of Small Business Owners (SBO) enjoy business travel according to the small business travel statistics in a new report by Capital One. As more travel is expected by businesses in 2020, the report offers insights on business travel among small businesses.

Small Business Travel Statistics

The latest small business travel statistics show that whether the purpose of the travel is for meetings or training (82%); entertaining clients (46%) or winning new business (38%) business travel remains a key activity.

A large number of people go on the road or fly for business purposes each year. In fact, more than half of business owners (55%) travel at least once a month for work. Most of whom (60%) spend over three nights on the road away from the office.

Surprisingly enough almost all (88%) small business owners who travel for business do enjoy traveling. In fact, just under three in four (72%) say they wish they traveled for business more often.

As travel becomes more common businesses are also racking up points and bonuses from frequent travel.  With more advisories on how to squeeze the extra bonus points, accommodation price comparisons easily being found online many businesses are capitalizing on them.

However, not all trips will go perfectly as planned. For those who don’t enjoy business travel, mishaps account for almost half (46%) of their aversion towards traveling. These could be in terms of losing luggage, loss of I.Ds, delays in flights and others that could take out the fun from traveling for work.

Being away from loved ones (39%), uncomfortable accommodations (29%) and lengthy travel processes (28%) too factor for having bad experiences.  Interestingly, only one in five (20%) say being away from the office is a bad thing.

Disconnecting

According to the study, more and more businesses are recognizing the need for employees to take time away from the office. A large number of employers (94%) now say work-life balance is important to keep employees happy. Beside these they now offer generous Paid Time Off (PTO) packages to their employees.

The fruits to these measures they say bring about a more motivated staff (94%) and an increase in productivity (93%).  As such, 83% of small business owners now encourage their staff to use their vacation days. A Further nine in ten of them encourage their employees to really disconnect from work when they are out of the office.

On the flip side, business owners barely take personal time off with only 32% of them taking fewer days every year. Even when on vacation over two-thirds (69%) of them admit to working on their vacations. They say that on average they worked nearly 3 hours a day on their last vacation. Almost a quarter of them actually turn off their work email notifications when out of the office.

The need to always be available can be seen as being too compulsive. A third of business owners either hand out their personal cell phone numbers or a quarter of them forward their desk line to their cell phones.

Cost of Travel and Small Business

If you and your employees do a lot of traveling, un-managed travel costs can make a huge dent on your bottom line. Business travel is among the most difficult expense categories to control for businesses. By understanding the costs of business travel in detail, businesses can gain deeper insights to come to a solution.

Make sure that you have specifically earmarked a budget for your company’s travels. In addition, put in place a pre-travel approval process along with corresponding travel plans for you and your staff.

Reducing travel costs does not mean cutting corners resulting in unreasonable per diems or putting staff in flea motels. The goal here is to bring balance and cutting unnecessary spending on travel. Implementing some easy and smart measures can help bring sustainability to your business travel.

Business travel expenses are costs associated with traveling for the purpose of conducting business and as such can be deductible. Travel expenses can include airfare and lodging, transport services, cost of meals and tips, use of communications devices and others.

For taxation purposes, well-organized records, keeping receipts, canceled checks and other documents that support a deduction can help businesses. These will come in handy when you are preparing tax returns and answer questions from the IRS.

For those who are budget conscious technological advances are now bringing about connectivity irrespective of where one lives or works. With video conferencing and remote working becoming more common, businesses can do away with travel if the choose to do so.

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This article, “88% of Small Business Owners Enjoy Business Travel” was first published on Small Business Trends