The 4 best corporate travel management companies in Toronto

If you’re a travel manager seeking a travel management solution for your company’s business trips, a corporate travel management company might be the ideal solution for you. A Canadian travel management company (TMC) assists with travel bookings and airfares, expense tracking, and report monitoring, saving you and your company valuable time and money, while keeping employee safety front of mind.

While you might be considering a brick-and-mortar TMC, or even a corporate travel agent for your business travel needs based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, today we’re going to explore why that might not be the most suitable or necessary option to help manage your company’s travel arrangements. 

We’ll look at the four best TMCs for businesses based in Toronto, alongside features to look for when deciding to work with a corporate travel management company.  

Features to look for when choosing a travel management company

Many travel professionals for business in Toronto offer travel technology to assist with booking processes. While many of these platforms can appear modern and intuitive, they don’t always offer the features you need to manage an optimized 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. 

Below, we detail the key features you need to look out for when comparing travel management companies in Canada that will help you save money, protect your business travelers, and streamline 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 providers, 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.
• 24/7/365 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 management companies for businesses based in Toronto

Below we’ve listed the four best corporate travel management companies for businesses based in Toronto. These businesses range in service offerings, as well as virtual versus physical locations.

1. TravelPerk

TravelPerk is the all-in-one platform for all of your business travel management needs. With employee travel safety alerts at your fingertips alongside real-time expense reporting, TravelPerk helps you to keep your business travel spend in check while ensuring employee safety en route to destinations.

Below, we’ve included more detailed benefits of choosing TravelPerk:

• Take advantage of flexible booking options with FlexiPerk. Cancel up to two hours before your flight, and receive a minimum of 80% back in TravelPerk credits towards future travel.
• Keep your employees safe while on the road with safety alerts, while making informed booking decisions with TravelCare.
• Achieve travel policy compliance with TravelPerk’s integrated travel policies and approval flows. Integrate your existing travel policies into TravelPerk’s all-in-one platform, and set your own limits on company travel. 
• Our centralized invoicing makes it easy for you to track and manage financial decisions.
• With TravelPerk’s easy and real-time expense reporting, our advanced travel dashboards grant you a bird’s eye view of employee travel spend and cancellations. 
• Incorporating sustainability as part of your company’s travel initiatives has never been easier. Calculate your carbon footprint and help to offset your carbon emissions with GreenPerk. 
• Offering a world-class inventory of flights, hotels, car rentals and more, you’ll never be strapped for selection, when you choose TravelPerk.
• For when your employees need it most, TravelPerk’s 24/7 customer support is always within reach. Our team operates at a target 15-second response time.
• Whether it's HR management, meeting spaces, or duty of care, TravelPerk’s integrations with 3rd party software are available for every team member, and every department.
• TravelPerk’s events management solution is efficient in enabling teams to connect and celebrate together, no matter the purpose or location.

2. YYZ Travel Group 

With over 35 years of experience, YYZ Travel Group has been supplying its clients access to customized travel experiences. Its partnership with Virtuoso, an organization of travel agencies, travel providers, and destinations around the globe, means increased offerings of amenities, upgrades, and experiences before, during, and after client trips.

Below are a few more company perks of YYZ Travel Group:

• Access to the best luxury products and amenities
• A wide array of leisure, cruising, ultra luxury, and corporate travel services
• Up to date information on travel trends, travel advisories, and policy changes
• Peace of mind in the event of last-minute cancellations, and trip interruptions
• Personal touch when planning trips and VIP guest experiences

While a well-established travel management company, YYZ Travel Group’s limited travel inventory means clients miss out on diverse offerings of transport and accommodation options. The company also supports a limited selection of hotel rewards programs, meaning clients lose out on valuable savings in the long run to travel for less. 

Additionally, the company uses Concur, which users have reportedly encountered difficulties when interacting with its interface. YYZ Travel Group also lacks a wide selection of 3rd party integrations and tools to help its clients do more with their management of business travel.

TravelPerk offers travel managers a massive travel inventory, with a wide selection of flights, hotels, car rentals, and trip add-ons to choose from. The company also offers support for over 20 hotel rewards programs, with clear instructions for travel managers looking to add their preferred program to their TravelPerk interface.

3. TTI Travel

Offering robust technology tools, including comprehensive booking, report tracking, and expense management modules, TTI Travel has been servicing its clientele for over 40 years. Among its many corporate, leisure and group offerings, the company provides cost-effective travel solutions while keeping duty of care in mind when clients are enroute to their destination.

Additional benefits to TTI Travel include:

• Policy compliant processes, including quality control systems, and spend tracking
• Dedicated portfolio advisors notifying clients of travel advisories and flight updates
• Tailored travel solutions to meet your company’s policy compliance
• Available group travel offerings, such as leadership retreats and incentive trips
• Efficient traveler profile set-up

Although TTI Travel provides its clientele a range of travel management solutions, the company primarily retrieves its inventory from BCD Travel. Widely considered a traditional travel management company, BCD Travel’s limited online booking tools are spread across a suite of different platforms, creating a disjointed and decentralized booking experience rather than an all-in-one offering.

TravelPerk bridges this gap by offering its customers a centralized end-to-end business travel platform. Travel managers receive access to the most fulsome travel inventory all in one convenient location.

4. Direct Travel

Direct Travel prides itself on offering flexible solutions to clients in North America and around the world. 

In addition to its available services such as corporate travel, meeting and event bookings, and leisure services, Direct Travel offers its clientele:

• Program management, encouraging travel policy compliance and account management services
• Cost savings analysis in unused tickets, contract optimisations, and hotel consulting
• Integrated itinerary management program, including 24/7 customer support
• Senior travel advisors with the specialized skills necessary to manage even the most diverse needs of your VIPs. 
• Traveler intelligence hub: Helping customers plan and pack for their next business trip with packing lists, safety tips, and requirements using Sherpa Intelligence.
• Risk management services: Travel alerts and trip briefings at your fingertips, alongside medical and evacuation services.
• Event management: Support for strategic meetings, employee engagement and recognition events, and sales incentives.

While Direct Travel provides its clientele with a wide array of global travel, personal travel and specialty travel offerings, it lacks a flexible travel program with the possibility to claim a refund. 

With TravelPerk’s FlexiPerk, travel managers have the ability to amend or reschedule business travel plans as needed. TravelPerk’s larger inventory of flights, hotels, and transportation options is also suitable to the travel needs of employees on the road.

Find out how TravelPerk can assist in making your business travel management work for you - request a live, personalized demo today!