Unlike large corporations which generally have procurement departments to negotiate best prices, small firms frequently don't have company travel policies and usually manage their travel budgets themselves, which can lead to misuse or misinterpretation by employees.

Research commissioned by HRS at the beginning of this year showed that for small firms cost is the most important factor when choosing travel but that doesn't mean you have to compromise on convenience or comfort.

The best way to handle travel budgets is to develop a company travel policy where possible. This doesn't necessarily mean having preferred suppliers or using a particular agent, but it can mean insisting on best practice. For example, the lowest prices for most types of travel are generally found on the internet. As an owner/manager you can insist that employees book their travel through certain specialist sites which usually have the widest content and choice as well as the lowest cost.

For example, skyscanner.net is a good price comparison site for European air travel, listing both charter and scheduled services both low cost and full service. At HRS.com you'll find the widest choice of hotels worldwide on the internet, including a high percentage of competitively priced independent hotels which you simply won't be offered if you book through a travel agent. The site gives you a full price comparison as well as allowing you to search by location, facilities and more.

Aside from saving your company money, there are two further bonuses to insisting that employees use specialist sites. One, you can easily doublecheck the price the employee has been quoted to ensure it's the most cost efficient. Two, when someone is faced with a list of pricing options on screen, they begin to suffer from ‘visual guilt' so ignoring the cheaper alternatives is more difficult.

If your company does a lot of business abroad, another smart move is to shop around for loyalty schemes that reward the company, not the individual. For example, Hertz and Avis both run SME company schemes which give upgrades, free hire and more. With airlines, these company focused loyalty schemes are less prevalent but, for example, KLM has an SME scheme called Bluebiz where the company racks up miles, not the employee. Schemes like this can serve to reduce your travel overheads but do check that you're still getting a competitive deal overall.

For many companies, travel is the second biggest overhead after salaries, but by developing a company best practice travel policy which includes using specialist internet sites and SME schemes you will make savings that directly affect your bottom line.

For more information visit www.hrs.com/corporate

Businesses of all sizes are always looking for ways to increase efficiencies and generate cost savings. Travel budgets are often one area to fall into this category, but the last thing a business traveller wants is to arrive at a meeting tired and stressed. Even on short-haul flights to Europe, comfort can be just as important as cost when it comes to choosing an airline to travel with.

Whilst Germanwings is a low-cost airline, 40% of our customers travel with us for business purposes and we have preferred supplier contracts in place with 300 large companies. Part of the way we achieve this popularity is by offering convenience, simplicity and great extra services at no extra charge to our business travel customers.

One of the biggest perceived problems with low-cost carriers is that they fly from ‘nowhere to nowhere'. Our policy is quite different: we offer high-frequency point-to-point services to primary airports in key European business locations. This minimises the extra time and money that is spent reaching that final destination.

Another bugbear for companies using typical low-cost airlines is that if a travel schedule changes at the last minute, can be difficult to reschedule or cancel flights and the value of a ticket may be lost. The cost of ‘unused tickets' can be particularly problematic for small businesses. During the past year, Germanwings has launched special ‘Flex Plus' tariffs to allow passengers to make alterations to a booking at short notice, free of charge. Cancellations can also be made.

To appeal to the business traveller wanting a low-cost yet ‘executive' experience, our product has a distinctive quality: a young fleet of aircraft; well trained crew; executive-style leather seating; and (it goes without saying for a German airline) extremely high standards of reliability and safety. Our award-winning travel portal www.germanwings.com also features an easy and transparent booking process and options to purchase extra services such as car rental and hotel booking.

Other services that are attractive for business travellers include web check-in, a customer credit card, ‘Rail & Fly' services within Germany, a dedicated helicopter shuttle in Berlin to the city's trade fair centre, and pre and post- trip newsletters.

Meanwhile, our frequent flier programme - the Boomerang Club - rewards business travellers for their loyalty (one free flight for every eight return flights), and offer benefits such as advance boarding and special offers.

And business travellers wanting to reach a destination in our comprehensive network, where there is not a direct low-cost flight, can now instead take ‘Smart Connect' services on selected routes via our hubs in Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart and Berlin-Schönfeld. This is a re-invention of flight transfers specifically for the low-cost airline carrier market. The benefits are 141 new available routes, over 500 additional connections each week, and a Smart Connect fare always costs less than two single fares combined.

We believe that Germanwings is at the forefront of low-cost innovation to give our customers a high level of comfort but for a fair price.

Germanwings is one of the most successful low-cost airlines in Europe and offers frequent direct flights from London to Cologne/Bonn, Stansted and Hamburg, and from Edinburgh to Cologne/Bonn. Prices start at 19 euros/£13including all taxes and fees. Visit www.germanwings.com for more information

For business travellers, a comfortable journey is vital. It's all about arriving at your destination on time and in a good condition for that all-important business meeting. That means a good business class offering; one that provides a superior standard of comfort and service.

As someone who has worked in Hong Kong for many years, I know how important it is to keep in contact with your business partners - not just by phone, but face-to-face - especially in Asia. In fact, I represented a number of organisations in Asia to ensure they had presence here for that very reason. Part of my role for one of the parties I represented involved studying passenger traffic patterns, and that is where I found that many business travellers would take one (sometimes even two) stops to get here.

Why? Well, the price was one factor, the other was comfort, because they were travelling in business class but didn't want to pay the higher fares for the privilege of flying direct or non-stop, something which was especially difficult for SMEs expanding their operations abroad. It was then I realised there was a need to provide affordable business-class travel without compromising on the standard of comfort, service and safety you'd expect on a long-haul flight.

A business-class service should give passengers the smoothest journey to their destination. Priority check-ins minimise waiting times, lounge access aids relaxation and on-board facilities maximise the opportunity for work or rest, something businessOasis is proud to offer. With both inbound and outbound flights flying through the night, comfortable business-class seats with up to a 60' pitch allow for sleep to reduce the effects of jet-lag. And with landing times that permit a full working day in the UK and afternoon appointments in Hong Kong, business people can step straight off the plane and into meetings, maximising their time in their destination.

Another very important factor for business travellers is the regularity and reliability of service. Picking an airline that offers both a frequent service and has a solid on-time performance record helps remove the stress of business travel and allows you to relax en-route safe in the knowledge that an important meeting will not be missed. Oasis does not have a perfect record of on-time performance, but we did clock in 91% average for the last three months on the London Hong Kong route, which I am led to believe is the best. (Average is 75%).

For more information visit www.oasishongkong.com