Business Travel RFP Season: A Practical Guide for SMEs and Growing Businesses
For many SME and growing Australian businesses, travel management tends to operate quietly in the background.
At first, a few people book their own flights. Then teams start travelling more often. Someone in finance starts questioning hotel costs. An EA finds themselves chasing itinerary changes at 7pm. A manager wants better visibility of where their people are. Then a disruption, missed connection or after-hours emergency makes it very clear: business travel needs more attention.
That is often the point where businesses start thinking about a formal travel management RFP.
A travel RFP doesn’t have to mean running a complicated enterprise procurement process that takes months, drains internal resources and asks suppliers 300 questions that do not match the scale of the program.
The goal can be much simpler and more useful: create a focused, relevant and commercially sound process that helps the business choose the right travel management company for how it actually operates.
A strong RFP process should help you understand a travel management partner’s capability, compare value and reduce risk. It should also help you avoid choosing a provider based on price alone, especially in a market where travel costs, disruption, technology and traveller expectations are all moving quickly.
Why travel procurement is different
Business travel is not a typical procurement category.
In many areas of procurement, the contract carries most of the value. In travel, the contract is only the starting point. Airfares change constantly, hotel rates fluctuate by season and location, and traveller behaviour directly affects whether negotiated outcomes are actually achieved. As a result, the success of a travel program is rarely determined by the cheapest transaction fee. It’s a careful balance between cost control, supplier performance, risk management, policy compliance, traveller needs and broader business goals.
It is determined by whether your people book through the right channels, whether your travel policy is practical, whether your travel management company (TMC) can support your travellers when plans change, and whether your business has the reporting needed to manage its travel spend properly.
A good RFP should test all of that.
Start by asking the right questions
Before going to market, ask yourself: Are we running an RFP because we need a better way of managing our travel program, or because it feels like we should test the market?
Both can be valid, but the process should match the need.
Corporate travel RFPs are increasingly shifting from a cost-saving exercise to a more strategic business management layer, with buyers looking more closely at value, risk, service, resilience, content access and traveller outcomes.
For SMEs, your travel RFP should not try to mirror a large enterprise tender. It should be sharper, more practical and built around the parts of your travel program that genuinely matter to your business’s performance.
What to consider before you issue an RFP
A strong tender starts well before the supplier questions are written.
A pre-RFP engagement process with a select group of TMCs can deliver significant benefits to your procurement team. Early engagement means that the TMC has a better understanding of your travel program and business needs, enabling the RFP response to be more customised and relevant rather than generic. Working with a small group of pre-qualified TMCs also delivers significant time-savings, enabling your procurement team to focus only on reviewing and responding to a limited range of RFPs rather than filtering through an extensive range of generic submissions.
Businesses should first create a simple internal picture of their current travel program. This does not need to be perfect, but it does need to be honest.
Look at your:
- total annual travel spend,
- number of travellers,
- top domestic and international routes,
- preferred airlines and hotels,
- existing booking channels,
- approval processes,
- after-hours support issues,
- traveller feedback, and
- any known pain points.
You should also review your current travel policy, if you have one. Is it clear? Is it followed? Does it reflect how your business travels today, or was it written for a version of the business that no longer exists? Who benefits from the policy? Is it encouraging adoption or influencing non-compliance?
Traveller and travel arranger behaviour matters. If employees bypass approved booking channels because the system is too hard, the fares are unsuitable or support is poor, your business loses spend visibility, weakens supplier negotiating power and increases risk.
The RFP should not just ask suppliers what they can provide. It should be informed by what your business and employees actually need. It’s important to gather a range of travel program stakeholders from across your business to contribute to RFP focus areas and review process, ensuring the successful travel program delivers on the needs of all travel stakeholders; business traveller, procurement, finance, risk, HR, legal, IT and so on.
Keep the process focused
A practical travel RFP process should usually include five stages:
- Internal review and requirements setting
- Supplier pre-qualification
- Short-form RFP
- Presentations and scenario testing
- Commercial evaluation and implementation planning
This simple approach avoids the common mistake of over-engineering the process.
Focus on creating a shorter, sharper and more qualified RFP, where deal breakers are defined early and suppliers are assessed on evidence, relevance and capability.
That is particularly relevant for SMEs. You do not need to invite every possible provider to tender for your travel program. Instead, identify a small group of TMCs that can genuinely support your size, complexity, traveller profile and service expectations.
What your RFP should assess
A good travel management RFP for a mid-sized Australian business should cover the following areas.
1. Service model and account support
This is often where the real difference between providers becomes clear.
Ask who will manage your account, where travel consultants are based, how after-hours calls are handled, and whether support is provided by people who understand your business.
For SMEs and growing businesses, this is critical. You may not have a large internal travel team, so the TMC service model needs to carry more weight.
2. Fees and commercial transparency
Do not assess TMC value on transaction fees alone. Ask for a clear breakdown of all fees, including transaction fees, implementation costs, management fees, service fees and any supplier-paid commissions or overrides.
This helps avoid surprises and allows a more realistic comparison between providers.
3. Technology and booking experience
Technology should make travel easier, not create more admin.
Ask for a live demo of the booking platform. Test whether it can support your travel policy, approval processes, traveller profiles, reporting needs and finance requirements. Also ask whether it integrates with your HR, finance or expense systems to reduce manual workload.
The key question is not “does the platform have lots of features?” It is “will our people actually use it?”
4. Duty of care and risk management
Australian businesses have a responsibility to support employees during work-related travel. That does not stop when an employee leaves the office.
Your RFP should ask how the TMC supports pre-trip risk assessment, traveller tracking, emergency communication, disruption response and escalation.
This is no longer a ‘nice to have’. It should be a core part of TMC evaluation.
5. Supplier relationships and content access
A strong TMC partner should be able to explain how its airline, hotel, car hire and technology partnerships will benefit your business.
This includes preferred fares and rates, room availability, business loyalty programs, and supplier influence during travel disruptions. Ask which travel suppliers the provider has formal agreements with, and what those agreements mean in practice.
You should also ask about NDC capability. NDC is now a commercial issue because it affects airline content access, servicing capabilities, flexibility and reporting.
6. Reporting and program visibility
Without good travel data, an effective travel program is hard to manage.
Your RFP should ask what reporting is available, how reports are accessed, how data can be segmented and interrogated (for example by traveller, cost centre, supplier, route and policy compliance), and how strategic insights are identified to influence future program optimisation.
For mid-sized businesses, reporting does not need to be complex. It just needs to be accurate, timely, and easy to act on.
7. Implementation and change management
A new TMC relationship can fail at the first hurdle if the implementation process is rushed or uncoordinated.
Ask suppliers how they manage onboarding, traveller profile migration, policy configuration, stakeholder communication, training and go-live support. For SMEs, this is especially important because travel management is often handled by people who are also juggling other roles and responsibilities within the business. A good TMC provider should make the transition feel controlled, not chaotic.
A recommended RFP checklist for Australian businesses
Use this as a practical planning tool before going to market.
Internal preparation
- Confirm why you are going to market and what needs to improve.
- Gather 12 months of travel spend data, if available.
- Identify top routes, destinations, airlines, hotels and traveller groups.
- Review current travel policy and approval workflows – what’s working and what’s not.
- Capture key pain points from travellers, bookers, finance and leadership.
- Confirm budget expectations
- Clarify your RFP internal decision-makers.
- Decide whether you need a full RFP or a shorter market review.
Supplier pre-qualification
- Check whether the TMC is ATAS accredited.
- Confirm they service businesses of your size and travel profile.
- Ask where travel consultants are based.
- Confirm they can support domestic and international travel.
- Check whether they offer 24/7 support.
- Ask whether they have relevant airline, hotel and ground transport partnerships.
- Confirm their technology can support your booking and reporting needs.
RFP questions
- Describe your recommended service model for a travel program of our size.
- Who will manage our account day to day?
- How is after-hours support handled?
- How do you manage urgent disruption and traveller emergencies?
- How do you support duty of care before, during and after travel?
- What booking technology do you provide, and how is policy applied?
- Can your platform integrate with our HR, finance or expense systems?
- What reporting is available, and can it be customised?
- How do you source and manage airline content, including NDC, and hotel and car rental content?
- What supplier relationships would benefit our travel program?
- How are your fees structured?
- Can you provide a sample invoice?
- What is your implementation process and timeline?
- How will you help drive traveller adoption and policy compliance?
- Can you integrate corporate travel, meetings, group and event travel into one consolidated program for better buying power and visibility?
- What SLAs do you recommend for a business of our size?
- How is our feedback gathered and considered for ongoing service developments?
Evaluation criteria
A simple weighted scorecard can keep the decision focused.
Suggested weighting:
- Service model and account support: 25%
- Technology and traveller experience: 20%
- Duty of care and disruption support: 20%
- Commercial model and fee transparency: 15%
- Reporting and program visibility: 10%
- Supplier relationships and content access: 10%
This weighting can be adjusted depending on your business. For example, a company with frequent international travel may place more weight on duty of care and after-hours support. A business with high domestic volume may focus more on service responsiveness, online adoption and fare visibility.
Presentation and scenario testing
Ask shortlisted TMCs to present their solution, but do not let the meeting become a sales pitch.
Give each provider two or three realistic scenarios, such as:
- A traveller is stranded overseas after a flight cancellation and will miss a connecting flight.
- A senior executive needs a last-minute international itinerary changed at 2am (after hours).
- A traveller books outside policy because the approved option is inconvenient.
- Finance needs a monthly report showing spend by cost centre and policy exceptions.
- A destination risk alert is issued while employees are already travelling.
Scenario testing helps reveal how the provider thinks, responds and supports your business when it counts.
Choosing the right partner, not just the cheapest provider
The right TMC for your business and travel program is not necessarily the biggest brand, the lowest fee or the most feature-heavy platform. It is the provider that can give your account the right level of attention, improve control and visibility, support your travellers’ needs, simplify administration and help your business manage travel investment with more confidence.
The best corporate travel agency for a 100-person business is often not the same one that suits a 5,000-person enterprise. It’s critical to understand your business’s unique travel needs and objectives, and customise your RFP process accordingly; make it relevant and keep it practical.
The strongest RFP process is not the longest . It is the one that helps your business choose a travel management partner that fits your people, your travel patterns, your budget and your business objectives for the year ahead and beyond.
