The One-Page Travel Policy: Myth or Reality?

The travel policy: It's the framework for most any managed travel program, no matter the size. But with the rise of customizable online booking tools designed to guide travelers to preferred vendors and restrict out-of-policy transactions, how detailed does a travel policy need to be? Are the days of the 40-page policy gone and a new age of the one-page policy upon us?

"I've always felt it was possible," said Tower Travel Management CEO John Smith. "That is, as long as it wasn't all encompassing." He said the feasibility of a one-page policy depends on how expansive it needs to be. Can it just cover travel, or does the policy have to set guidelines around entertainment, phone usage and other components of T&E? "If you're going to try and include all of those things, then one page is not going to get it done."

ACT senior manager of corporate travel Jennifer Steinke recently rewrote her program's travel policy, expanding it from seven pages to 28 pages to include both travel and expense guidelines. She thinks a one-page travel policy could be possible but that a better option may be to create a quick travel guide that sums up the key guidelines.

"People want really clear directions and they want to know where they can go for answers," she said. "A one-pager could get travelers by, but a more comprehensive document will hopefully ensure that you're protecting the organization as a whole."

How to Build a One-Page Policy or Summary

Whether cutting your policy to one page or instead creating a one-page summary, figure out the critically important points for your travelers.

Christopherson Business Travel offers a proprietary technology, PolicyLogic, that allows travel manager clients to build out a policy as detailed and expansive as they desire. From there, Christopherson boils down the policy to the key elements, including guidelines around air, hotel, car and supervisor permissions, said CEO Mike Cameron.

A one-page summary also may offer guidelines around meals, receipt requirements and whether travelers need to book using the approved channels.

Steinke recommends travel managers reach out to road warriors for what information they find vital and what guidelines may be unclear. "Where are the pain points?" she asked. "Those are the things you want to highlight on that one-page policy to make sure they don't get lost in the shuffle of a bigger document."

Travel managers should avoid using vague or wordy language, Smith advised. "If your company has a 14-day advance purchase policy, there's no reason to make your explanation more wordy than a bullet point that says, 'Airfare must be purchased 14 days in advance, or supervisor approval is required.'" Smith said travel mangers who want to expand on any guidelines can do so through email newsletters or Web posts, but he recommended keeping the policy simple and straightforward. Steinke said, "You can't write a travel policy to every exception. You have to write a policy to the majority."

Also consider culture and expect-ations, which vary from company to company or industry to industry. As Smith noted, some companies absolutely need to highlight entertainment policies while others don't see that as a priority.

Benefits of a Simplified Policy

Some travelers may study every line of their firm's 20-plus-page policies, but there are likely many more, from road warriors to infrequent travelers, looking to get their hands on information quickly and easily. "The benefit is more engagement from the employees and more attention paid," Smith said.

Cameron related that the PolicyLogic summaries came about in part because clients wanted to be able to communicate the most impor-tant information about their programs to Christopher-son agents quickly. "We wanted the travelers and the travel agents to be able to see at a glance: What are the high-level things that we need to know. What is it that a travel agent would need to know if they were working on one of our accounts as a backup agent and they weren't familiar with this company?"