Making Money on Business Travel

[sarah110]

Hello all! I'm new here, and although I considered myself fairly frugal before, this blog/community has shown me that I have a long way to go!  Anyways, I travel a fair amount for work and my employer's travel policy allows me to bank extra tax-free money!  This is mostly due to the generous per diem - $70/day for meals and non-business related incidentals.   Whatever I don't use is mine to keep!  Before, my general goal was to save half.  I still went out to restaurants for dinner and bought magazines in the airport.  Sometimes I succeeded at saving half and sometimes I didn't.  I rationalized that I deserved    little luxuries like gourmet sandwiches and The Economist because goddammit I was away from the creature comforts of home!

No more!  What I really want is the money, deposited to my bank account and then paid towards my student loans that I've been aggressively paying off.  I'm out of the office for this whole week, so yesterday, I walked my butt 2 miles to the closest grocery store and picked up $20 of bread, greek yogurt, veggies, and cheese.  This should last me for dinner all week!  Plus I'll be eating delicious and healthy meals.

Next week, I'm traveling again, and I have more plans to step up my game, including packing dry goods (pasta, peanut butter, oatmeal, tea bags) in my checked luggage (work pays the fee, don't worry!). 

This will be easy to do on solo travel, but harder to implement when I'm traveling with the boss (or bosses).   I think I will still go out to dinner on those occasions, purely for the networking and career building opportunities. 

Anyone else have any money saving (or money making) business travel tips??

[starbuck]

Sounds like you're doing great! I also travel regularly for work, but mostly within New England so I end up getting reimbursed for a lot of mileage as well. I also get to keep the balance of my per diem amounts. If you have any control over selecting your hotel, I'd recommend one with a kitchen, or at least a fridge. (You can usually request this at most hotels. I tend to stay at Marriotts.) Residence Inns and some of the other brands have a decent breakfast in the morning, but I can't stomach their coffee anymore. I end up drinking more tea when I travel as a result. :) If I'm in need of lunch, I'll usually grab some greek yogurt and trail mix at the grocery store, if i haven't brought any with me.

Since I'm usually driving to my destination, I'll bring some food from home with me. At least lunch for the first day, plus some stuff to snack on during the trip. I'll usually take leftovers from dinner at a restaurant that night for lunch the next day. This is of course if I'm working solo in an area. If I'm training or working with an employee, I usually take them out for lunch at some point in the trip. I make a lot more money than them frankly, and it helps build a positive working environment.

When I do end up at restaurants, I try and remember that it's just me, so I get a main course that would make good leftovers the next day since I know I won't be able to finish it all. More restaurants/brew pubs are now serving half beers, which I love.

Don't forget your reusuable water bottle! I also bring a travel mug with me.

[tdbat]

Do you have to use a company credit card to pay for the hotels? If you have the option to use a personal card, you can rack up points or cash back while getting reimbursed for the hotel costs. Also, continental breakfast is not always the best but they usually have apples and bananas you can sneak in, grab, and save for snacks during the day.

[Self-employed-swami]

I get a per-diem from my clients, every day that I work (I travel 100% of the time I am working).  I get $50-75/day for food (depending on the client), and I usually spend about $100/week on groceries (I'm places where veggies and fruit are expensive). 

I also get $100-120/day to have my vehicle sitting outside, going nowhere.  I bank almost all of that as well.

I have an airmiles credit card, so I put everything on that, and last year I had enough reward miles for my husband and I to travel to Hawaii and back, just paying the taxes.  I've got another 5,000+ miles now too.

[sarah110]

Thanks for the replies!  Why hadn't I thought of a water bottle!? I accidently spent $3.95 on water at the airport last week and I'm still thinking about it.  I can politely request a certain hotel, but our travel coordinator makes the final call.  I'll start asking about the fridge though!  Do you call ahead or ask at check-in?

I do use my personal credit card, which has cash back, but I'm considering opening a second personal card that I only use for travel so I can easily segregate my reimbursable expenses.  More than once, I've checked my credit card balance and experienced a moment of panic before I remember that there's a week of hotel stays on there!  Any recommendations on a card that generates good rewards for travel?  I typically stay at Hiltons and fly US Air.

Good point about the car!  All my transportation expenses are covered, including my drive between the airport and home.  It's a nice bonus. 

[starbuck]

A fridge in the room is part of my preferences when I book online, but since you don't book your own lodging, I'd recommend calling the hotel you'll be staying at and first asking if it's standard for the room, and if not if you'd be able to get one for your upcoming stay.

Definitely make sure you're signed up for all of the rewards programs, especially Hilton's. It'll add up fast with the amount of travel you're doing. You may want to check out the Points Guy for superior travel rewards hacking skills (@ thepointsguy.com)

As for the water bottle, I'll usually fill it up in the hotel's fitness center since my SIGG doesn't fit in most hotel bathroom sinks. :) When you're bringing it with you through airport security, just make sure it's empty going through, and fill it up at a bubbler when you get past.

And with constant travel, make sure you're keeping good records about your expenses. I know there are some mobile apps that help ppl track this stuff.

[GP]

I used to do quite a bit of travel business travel a few years ago and did fairly well gaming the system.  My advice would be to find out as much as you can about the whole rewards/status thing. 

As an example when you get to a certain level with Marriott's rewards program you get access to their business lounges.  That's free breakfast and dinner every day (or it used to be maybe things have changed!) - I'm sure Hilton has the same sort of deal going.  Similarly once you get to a decent status level with your airline you'll get access to their lounges which always have water, fruit etc. on hand at a minimum.  You can also rack up reward points very fast if you're travelling frequently I still have several hundred thousand Air Canada points - enough for a few trips to Europe in Business class. I take a couple of trips a year and I can't remember the last time I paid for a flight.

I'm a bit out of date with all this but flyertalk was the go to website for all this back in the day - I'd imagine it's still pretty good.  Famous blogger guy Chris Guillebeau has written an ebook about it (http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/) and I know there a few blogs that talk about it too.  It can be a pretty complex area if you really start to get into it, there are all sorts of tips and tricks that you'll hear about - I remember reading an article about a guy who got so good at it he now makes a living booking reward flights for people.

[icefr]

I'm jealous! I don't get per diems - I have to expense every single item I spend money on while I'm gone. It's kind of a nice reprieve from so much organizing since I can just grab that muffin at the coffee shop instead of making them at home. It still does save me money though since there is no weekly grocery trip that week, another week without fueling up my car, not tempted to go anywhere with friends, etc.

I once drove for a work trip and I got so much more $ in mileage than how much I spent on gas since my car is far more fuel efficient than the IRS expects. It was great!

[pka222]

@ Sarah110
I'd agree that not eating out every meal, using a water bottle, walking instead of taking the taxi are all the most obvious ways of saving per diem. I also use skype to call home for free, eat at the conferences I attend and just skip dinner and try not to go out for drinks unless it is with the boss or a client (i.e. work). 
The huge benefit of my gig is I get the per diem for the hotel as well and make the bookings my self.  Often I stay with friends and take them/make them dinner in trade, otherwise I book the cheapest room around. The best situation is when I have to go to a remote location and camp or stay with a local family, the per diem is based on the nearest city - which goes a lot further in the jungle.  It took me a while to practice mustachian habits while on the road, but its worth the effort for sure.
happy flying
 

[TomTX]

@ Sarah110
I'd agree that not eating out every meal, using a water bottle, walking instead of taking the taxi are all the most obvious ways of saving per diem. I also use skype to call home for free, eat at the conferences I attend and just skip dinner and try not to go out for drinks unless it is with the boss or a client (i.e. work). 
The huge benefit of my gig is I get the per diem for the hotel as well and make the bookings my self.  Often I stay with friends and take them/make them dinner in trade, otherwise I book the cheapest room around. The best situation is when I have to go to a remote location and camp or stay with a local family, the per diem is based on the nearest city - which goes a lot further in the jungle.  It took me a while to practice mustachian habits while on the road, but its worth the effort for sure.
happy flying

Apparently my employer used to have per-diem, but there were incidents of employees sleeping in their car, washing their clothes in the client's bathroom and such. Strictly reimbursement now.

Too bad some folks took it too far.

[dragoncar]

Also jealous here.  Never worked for a company offering a per diem.

However, in the line of the "potentially unethical ways to make money" thread:

I have chosen more expensive flights for the more airline miles.

I have considered using miles to buy a flight, then expensing the full retail cost (I don't cause that's straight up fraud)

Definitely eat a big free lunch when I spend half a day in SoCal

[Tyler]

I used to travel to China/Taiwan extensively for work (been there 20+ times). 

Generally I was on the expense system -- even booking my own flights.  That was awesome for credit card rewards and frequent flyer miles.  I didn't pay for a personal flight for years, and had lots of free food/drinks in airport lounges.

Then at one point I stumbled into a job with a per diem of $135/day(!) for travel in Asia.  Breakfast was usually part of the room rate, and save for a few group dinners (which the vendors usually paid for anyway), I enjoyed finding local grocery stores and eating like a "normal" person, banking the rest. 

[dragoncar]

Apparently my employer used to have per-diem, but there were incidents of employees sleeping in their car, washing their clothes in the client's bathroom and such. Strictly reimbursement now.

Too bad some folks took it too far.

This is hilarious because per diem dollars aren't any MORE valuable than your normal salary dollars.  Why weren't they sleeping in their cars back home? 

[AlexK]

I have to travel from Reno to Silicon Valley every few months for work and I can choose between flying or driving. Reimbursement is $0.55/mile and the trip is 550 miles round trip. I drive a Geo Metro xfi which gets >50 mpg and is fully depreciated with over 200k miles. The funny thing is there is no longer a direct flight so the drive is faster than flying anyway, and cheaper for the company.

I'm in Japan right now for work, too bad I couldn't drive the 11,000 miles round trip to get here!

[Self-employed-swami]

I very rarely fly for work, so it's always driving.  I buy a boatload of gas, but I get ~600km from 100L of gas, and I get paid $1-1.20/km for reimbursement.

[Honest Bob]

I usually do the following.
1. bring a case of bottled water (a refillable bottle works better of course)
2. bring a bunch of crackers.
3. pack a lunch for the first day.
4. Stay only at Hampton Inn's (racking up points on their rewards program) oh and free breakfast.
5. Pay for EVERYTHING on my Amazon credit card and pay it off with the reimbursements.
6. LEFTOVERS!

[MooreBonds]

I have chosen more expensive flights for the more airline miles.

I have considered using miles to buy a flight, then expensing the full retail cost (I don't cause that's straight up fraud)

The "purchasing more expensive flights for more miles" I understand as being unethical....but I honestly don't see an issue with redeeming your own personal miles and getting compensated by the company.

If someone gave you a $10 gift card to McDonald's, and used that to buy your lunch for $10, should you not get reimbursed because someone gave you the gift card and it didn't 'cost' you anything out of your own pocket?

Nonsense! That $10 gift card was yours for personal use, and is equivalent to cash.

Likewise, if you accumulate 30,000 frequent flier miles - for personal use - and you are able to redeem those miles for a free flight to anywhere in the US, and you instead use them to purchase a business ticket that would have otherwise cost your company $500, I see no issues with asking to be reimbursed the cost of the ticket ($500) even though it cost you nothing out of pocket, because you deprived yourself the value of your own personal frequent flier miles ($500), and the company would have paid the exact same amount ($500) if you hadn't used your miles.

Granted, that's assuming that the $500 ticket was the cheapest one for that flight schedule that you would have bought anyway, even if you didn't have any miles to redeem.

This is hilarious because per diem dollars aren't any MORE valuable than your normal salary dollars.  Why weren't they sleeping in their cars back home?

Probably because if you get, say, $100/day for hotel lodging per diem and instead stay in your car, that's $100/night, or $3,000/month.

First of all - if they had to sleep in their cars every night, they would still need places to get ready at every day, versus just a 1 or 2 night thing. Not to mention things like a tv, kitchen appliances, places to store your clothes, etc.

Also, their rent may have been, say, $1,200/month, or $40/day. If you can sleep in a car for 1 or 2 nights and bank $200 for something that doesn't really inconvenience you that much (it's not like you're giving up your permanent home back home), it's a hell of a lot different than being all-out homeless 24/7. If you know it's just for 1 or 2 nights, you can make do with a small travel bag...but living out of a car 24/7 is quite a bit different!

[dragoncar]

The "purchasing more expensive flights for more miles" I understand as being unethical....but I honestly don't see an issue with redeeming your own personal miles and getting compensated by the company.

If someone gave you a $10 gift card to McDonald's, and used that to buy your lunch for $10, should you not get reimbursed because someone gave you the gift card and it didn't 'cost' you anything out of your own pocket?

Well the more expensive flights can be rationalized because they are refundable flights (and I do change flights often) vs nonrefundable -- but that's a convenience for me because the company would also pay any flight change fees involved.  In other circumstances, the cheaper flights would have terrible schedules (e.g., a layover for an otherwise 1 hour flight).  On the other hand, many travel expenses are conveniences (they don't ask me to make my own sandwich at the grocery store, instead I get to go to a restaurant).

For the mile redemption the problem is that there's no way to get reimbursed for a receipt that says "6000 miles used for flight."  What they care about is whether the IRS will accept such a receipt when they write off my reimbursement as a business expense.  Therefore, I'd have to come up with a fake receipt. 

Moreover, these points were the result of business travel paid for by the company.  It's generally well accepted that such points are a perk of business travel.  But it's still in a gray area for me.

Edit:  For just this reason I recently used some miles to purchase airline gift cards.  That way, I can submit a valid receipt with a dollar value for reimbursement.  Unfortunately, I lose a few percent when you consider the unfavorable exchange rate between points and airline gift cards vs. points and flights.

[Kierun]

I do use my personal credit card, which has cash back, but I'm considering opening a second personal card that I only use for travel so I can easily segregate my reimbursable expenses.  More than once, I've checked my credit card balance and experienced a moment of panic before I remember that there's a week of hotel stays on there!  Any recommendations on a card that generates good rewards for travel?  I typically stay at Hiltons and fly US Air.

I use the Capital One Venture card for traveling.  There is a $59 annual fee after the first year but there are no foreign transaction fees, which can quickly add up to over $59 if you do a lot of foreign traveling.  Not sure what card would be good if all your travels are domestic though.

[MooreBonds]

I do use my personal credit card, which has cash back, but I'm considering opening a second personal card that I only use for travel so I can easily segregate my reimbursable expenses.  More than once, I've checked my credit card balance and experienced a moment of panic before I remember that there's a week of hotel stays on there!  Any recommendations on a card that generates good rewards for travel?  I typically stay at Hiltons and fly US Air.

I use the Capital One Venture card for traveling.  There is a $59 annual fee after the first year but there are no foreign transaction fees, which can quickly add up to over $59 if you do a lot of foreign traveling.  Not sure what card would be good if all your travels are domestic though.

While I agree that the foreign transaction fee is something to avoid....make sure you compare their rules on how they convert your charges. It's great to avoid a 1% or 2% (or more!) foreign transaction fee...but if the exchange rate they charge is you 4% higher than what another card's equation is, it's worse off overall. I haven't really compared cards on this, so I don't know if most cards tell you that they use "spot futures exchange rate at 2pm EST every day", or some other yardstick so you can compare. About 10 years ago, I took a trip to Europe, and one day I made several charges to my card. On that same day, the exchange rate was different each time for 3 different charges, and apparently also effected by the size of the purchase.

[Kierun]

I use the Capital One Venture card for traveling.  There is a $59 annual fee after the first year but there are no foreign transaction fees, which can quickly add up to over $59 if you do a lot of foreign traveling.  Not sure what card would be good if all your travels are domestic though.

While I agree that the foreign transaction fee is something to avoid....make sure you compare their rules on how they convert your charges. It's great to avoid a 1% or 2% (or more!) foreign transaction fee...but if the exchange rate they charge is you 4% higher than what another card's equation is, it's worse off overall. I haven't really compared cards on this, so I don't know if most cards tell you that they use "spot futures exchange rate at 2pm EST every day", or some other yardstick so you can compare. About 10 years ago, I took a trip to Europe, and one day I made several charges to my card. On that same day, the exchange rate was different each time for 3 different charges, and apparently also effected by the size of the purchase.

Very good point.  According to Visa, the system calculates the rate every day—except weekends, Memorial Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day—Visa calculates the rate for the next day's transactions.  The Visa rate is selected from a range of rates available in wholesale currency markets or the government-mandated rate in effect one day prior to the applicable central processing date.  Visa makes this rate available to issuing banks, which may adjust the rate when billing cardholders by applying a foreign transaction fee.  The rate Visa makes available to issuing banks may vary from the rate Visa itself receives. 

Additionally, Visa Inc. does not assess any fees to cardholders or merchants. Visa applies International Service Assessment (ISA) fees ranging from 0.15 to 1 percent to its financial institution partners for their use of the global payment system.   The fees are paid by financial institutions on transactions that require the use of our global infrastructure.  Since Visa does not assess any fees to cardholders or merchants, we have no involvement in financial institution pricing to cardholders or merchants.  If financial institutions or merchants decide to assess a foreign transaction fee to their customers, they are required to provide details to their cardholders and consumers.

[jeepbraah]

The amount of work I put into it depends on how long I will be gone from home. I get government perdiem and get to keep it if I don't spend it.  For example a 3 day trip I will find a hotel with free breakfast, one meal taken care of. If I am working alone I will just bring some cliff bars and other snacks and skip lunch. For dinner I will go out and have a fairly nice healthy meal. So out of a day I am only spending 15-25$. If I am there longer for a week I will find a hotel with a kitchen and buy groceries. One of my favorite meals is soup with rice and toast. If I follow the same plan as above that takes care of all meals for the day. So far I have been on the road for two weeks and only spent $100 on food. Thanks to free breakfast, snack bars for lunch, and cooking dinner in the hotel. While it does leave me hungry (I like to think of it as the per diem diet) I definitely enjoy going home and cooking a real meal.

As others have said bring a water bottle, you'll be suprised how much a $1.50 racks up every day for water.

[Dirigo]

Great advice here. My personal strategy:

• Stay at a Residence Inn--basically a studio apartment with full size fridge, appliances, etc., in addition to free breakfast
• Bring water bottle (as others mentioned)--I never pay for drinks
• Go to Trader Joe's as soon as I can and stock up on food for the whole trip (TJ's tends to have healthy, cheap, and decently-portioned offerings with good pre-made options for lunches).
• Watch the savings roll in