Best way to approach expensive business travel?

August 29, 2019 3:07 PM

I contract and my contracting firm requires me to travel. What I did not know is that they require me to pay out of pocket for hotel and air. I'm brand new, and for an upcoming trip it'll cost me about $4k which I don't have and if I did, would be lenient to shell out given I haven't even had a paycheck yet. What are my options?

This is embarrassing to bring up to them because obviously it brings up the question of why I don't have the money, but I don't think it is reasonable to assume someone has $4-5k starting a new job to drop on travel and not be reimbursed for 30 days.

I have a couple of options as I see it:

1. Go to the PM, who I don't know well and only talked to a couple of times. Ask if I'm really needed for the entire time and if what I need to do can't be wrapped up in a day or two, that I'm a new employee and was not expecting such an expensive travel budget. I literally don't have an agenda or anything to do onsite. Before when I traveled I've literally sat in a cubicle for 8 hours talking to no one just so I can be onsite.

2. Go to the accounting person (they have weird titles, I don't know the official one). He didn't know or care about travel and is where I found out about needing to pay out of pocket. See if there's anyway at all they can put the expensive parts on a corporate card.

3. Credit card, this is not an option as the trip is coming up very quickly and due to issues related to why I don't have the money has also caused me to have credit issues. My limit would probably be too low. I also just got out of some money troubles so last thing I need is have credit card debt if they for some reason don't reimburse me or pay me.

A final point, travel expenses were a significant part of my salary negotiations and I took a cut for travel to be included in my salary. I made the mistake of not knowing that meant they'll even pay any of the travel expenses. If I hadn't done this I'd be out all of the travel expenses.

I guess I've been spoiled and always had work pay for this. I asked around and this is common apparently. I mean if the company doesn't reimburse you because of whatever reason, you're left holding the bag. I might legally be able to get my expenses back, but that's a huge hassle and time consuming.

Frankly, I'm in a position where I need the job, yet oddly can't afford to work there.

posted by geoff. to Work & Money (26 answers total)

You should not be embarrassed at all. This is a huge amount of money, and it's quite reasonable to ask that they might cover things like flights and lodging. I would go to your contact/supervisor and say, "This is beyond what I can afford to advance on my own. Can the company book and pay for the flights?" If not, can they give you a corporate card and you save the receipts?
posted by bluedaisy at 3:12 PM on August 29, 2019 [31 favorites]

Assuming you are a W-2 employee for a contracting firm, not an independent contractor: It is completely reasonable to have flights and hotels booked by whoever has a corporate card, or to get a corporate card yourself if travel is a significant part of your job. You should start with your contact at the consulting firm. Then the client can reimburse the firm.

If you are an independent contractor, then you have the right to say "without an agenda, this trip will not be possible for me at this time."
posted by muddgirl at 3:19 PM on August 29, 2019 [8 favorites]

Most organizations have a practice for fronting staff the money for travel. You could ask your supervisor.
posted by slidell at 3:22 PM on August 29, 2019 [3 favorites]

it's gotta be (2) (but talk to your supervisor, not the accounting person.) Eliminate (1) which is basically telling them you're expendable, and (3) isn't possible, and you're left with (2). They must have a system for this. At my old company there were corporate cards available but you had to ask for them, otherwise you were stuck doing that reimbursement dance.
posted by fingersandtoes at 3:26 PM on August 29, 2019 [1 favorite]

That's a big chunk of change to ask someone to lay out, even if you think they're rich. (rich people do not get that way by making $5000 interest free loans to the companies they work for)

In the long run it's not so bad though. Get on every relevant frequent flyer/etc. program you can and you'll be accruing all sorts of benefits on the company's dime.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 3:33 PM on August 29, 2019 [3 favorites]

Please don't be embarrassed about this. 4-5k is a ton of money for anyone. This unanticipated expense is a big deal. Being honest about it will not get you fired.
posted by k8t at 3:42 PM on August 29, 2019 [13 favorites]

Under no circumstances should you ever even consider option 1. They’ve asked you to go; that means you’re required. You may not understand why you’re required, but I’ve been on numerous business trips where my purpose wasn’t immediately obvious. Sometimes you’re there to observe, sometimes you’re there as backup, sometimes it’s a relationship building thing. You just follow orders. You can ask for clarification, but to assume it’s pointless, well, you know what they say about assuming.

That said, $4k is a giant expense. I’ve had trouble with much less. Fortunately, I had a friend at my old company who had a credit card that got great points, and so she was happy to book travel for others. This would be the best option, if you can find such a person.

Otherwise, talk to your boss. It’s ridiculous.
posted by kevinbelt at 4:13 PM on August 29, 2019 [2 favorites]

I used to work for a company with a similar structure of traveling contractors. This happened all the time! We had contractors with kids in college, mortgages, and financial gaps as they got their footing as freelancers, etc. It's a LOT of money and nothing to be embarrassed about.

Like everyone else says, under no circumstances should you refuse this trip because of budget. Our best contractors knew there was always a way to work something out, as a general philosophy. (Like, if they dug in their heels at the first obstacle without even talking to us to find a solution, usually we knew there would be trouble ahead in working with this person, so our enthusiasm for them would wane significantly.)

We had an internal recruiter/manager, a PM, and an accounting/travel person, and our new contractors in this situation just seemed to go with whoever they best clicked with. bluedaisy's script is very good.

Our travel/accounting person or their admin would then set up the hotel and flight.

When we had groups traveling to client sites, meals tended to be mostly easy to handle because usually the bill would be picked up by someone else. For example, we'd do breakfast at the hotel or the client would provide breakfast at the worksite, and then the client would provide lunch. For dinner, we'd either go out for dinner with the PM picking up the bill, or else we'd go back to our hotel rooms to work and get room service. There are a few other gaps where you may have to swing a few bucks, like for meals at the airport, but after days of heavy sodium and butter at restaurants, all you'll really want is something light like a sandwich or a quick salad anyway.
posted by mochapickle at 4:27 PM on August 29, 2019 [5 favorites]

You can also ask the company for a travel advance of about $5k, so the company is fronting you money instead of the other way around.
posted by monotreme at 5:16 PM on August 29, 2019 [1 favorite]

I have never worked anyplace that expected me to fully pay for work travel. Either it was booked for me, I was given a corporate card, or I used my own card and got it expensed (and earned points on my card). You are absolutely in the right to expect the first two options be available to you.

BUT, if you are staying in a hotel chances are almost 100% you will need a credit card with you when you check in. I haven't stayed in a hotel in the last few years that didn't require swiping a card for incidentals even if you swear you won't order room service or take something from the minibar. So, you're going to either need that corporate card or get your own. I suppose a debit card would work as well, but it's risky to put your own checking account on the line.
posted by joan_holloway at 5:17 PM on August 29, 2019 [1 favorite]

When I traveled for a large university they booked flights and hotels and paid for them through their designated travel agent. Rental cars and meals I paid for and was reimbursed within 2 weeks of submitting receipts. Basically, I paid for anything other than air or train fare and hotels, which are the largest chunks. Can you check with the travel coordinator/secretary to see if this might be the case? When I started that job, the specifics of travel and how it was paid for were regarded as a detail, while I was sweating bullets until I found that travel and hotels were covered. It was as simple as asking the secretary.
posted by citygirl at 6:44 PM on August 29, 2019

Response by poster: Okay what everyone here experienced is what I experienced previously (I used to travel weekly for a large consulting company): air + hotel covered by the company through an agent or company card, other meals and incidentals are reimbursed.

I mistakenly left out a detail. I did ask accounting type person offhandedly about booking travel and this is when I found out I had to pay for it and be reimbursed. So I took the advice here and in writing asked the closest thing I have to a supervisor how to proceed with booking travel and if there was a corporate card this can be put on. I think they're a small 3-4 person company so this might actually be something they have not run into before and did not know it was an issue.

What it comes down to it is that unfortunately they'll have to help me find a solution to this or I cannot make the trip, I cannot conjure up money out of nowhere.
posted by geoff. at 7:48 PM on August 29, 2019 [3 favorites]

Oh, wait, you are being reimbursed, but after the fact? This is par for my consulting experience, though we get a corporate card if you don't like using your own credit.

Yeah, the only way I can see this is if they get you a corporate card.
posted by sandmanwv at 5:07 AM on August 30, 2019

Find out how to get a corporate card. And take a step back and consider if you can really travel frequently without having a credit card. Even if you can find a way to get the big ticket items taken care of there are many smaller items and unexpected situations that require you to pay things on the road. Do you really want to (are you even able to) use your debit card for multiple taxi fares, car rental, fuel for the rental, meals, unexpected hotel stays because your flight just got cancelled etc. You may have colleagues who will pick up some of these items but then you may not or they may not want to for reasons.

Also, some corporate cards are in your name under an facility agreement and you still have to pay the bill and claim the expense. So find out your organisation’s set-up.
posted by koahiatamadl at 5:56 AM on August 30, 2019

That is close to my experience as well, though we have the option of a corporate card (but you still have to deal with the bill and arranging reimbursement).

Business travel without a credit card seems tricky. I see signs at places warning of "holding" additional funds if you use a debit card, for example (and, relying on a debit card means you need to have that much actual cash to cover things).

As a once-off or a rare thing, I could arrange to have at least major expenses (eg airfare, hotel) put on someone else's corporate card if there was a person who couldn't cover those themselves in some way. But I couldn't arrange to have that happen every time, and for all the smaller expenses that frequently add up to a lot by the end of a trip.

But again, we have the option of a corporate card, which provides that kind of credit availability regardless of whether a person has their own card or not. In the past, when I worked for an agency that did not provide cards, there was a process for people to request a travel advance before the trip. Hopefully your employer can provide one or the other on an ongoing basis.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:07 AM on August 30, 2019

"consider if you can really travel frequently without having a credit card"

"Business travel without a credit card seems tricky"

I do it all the time. It's definitely possible; you just need enough funds in your checking account to cover stuff on your debit card. That's the OP's problem. I've been fortunate enough that, for most of my career, I've been able to keep a cushion of $1000 or more in my account, and once the OP can do that, it should be smooth sailing. But the catch-22 is how the OP will build that cushion if he can't afford to do the work to start out.
posted by kevinbelt at 8:08 AM on August 30, 2019

Asking employees to front small amounts of expenses for travel is common but not $4,000 to $5,000. That's nuts. A consultant should never front that much money to a client out of their own pocket. What if they stiff you? It's one thing to not get paid for labor but it is quite another to lose thousands out of your pocket leaving you in debt.

They should front you the cash for reasonable expenses by issuing a check. You can use this money to pay down your credit card so you can use it for travel or get a separate bank account and debit card. Why would you trust them if they won't trust you?
posted by JackFlash at 8:33 AM on August 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

Asking employees to front small amounts of expenses for travel is common but not $4,000 to $5,000.

No, that's absolutely common. I've had several direct-hire full-time high-travel jobs where I routinely spent thousands a month on my Amex, but I was ALWAYS reimbursed promptly. I NEVER had to pay the bill with my own money, which on full travel months could easily be $10-$15k.

Honestly, this is GREAT, because of what it does to your membership rewards account.

If you're in consulting, this is absolutely normal and fine, assuming you trust the folks to pay you promptly.
posted by uberchet at 9:05 AM on August 30, 2019 [4 favorites]

Go to the PM, who I don't know well and only talked to a couple of times. Ask if I'm really needed for the entire time and if what I need to do can't be wrapped up in a day or two, that I'm a new employee and was not expecting such an expensive travel budget. I literally don't have an agenda or anything to do onsite. Before when I traveled I've literally sat in a cubicle for 8 hours talking to no one just so I can be onsite.

Please do not do this; it's politically a bad move. You're undermining your own value AND undermining your boss's agenda (or lack thereof, but whatever.) MOST CERTAINLY do not do this so that you can squeak by to afford to pay out-of-pocket. Your employment should not be based on your ability to...pay for it.

Do not be embarrassed. Your personal financial circumstances are one of their business and you should not even THINK about explaining them beyond "this expense is not possible."

The hotel will require a card at check-in as standard policy in case you empty the minibar, and I strongly advise against using your personal debit card for this. They will put a hold on your debit card (which could be to the tune of $200) that can take a week to clear, during which time you will not have access to those funds. The hotel desk employee or manager may make reassuring noises that the hold will clear within a few hours of check-out. For credit cards, that's often true. For debit cards, it...is...not.

"Corporate credit card" can mean two things, and I think they're getting conflated in this thread. Purchasing cards are obviously the company's account. But AmEx and other companies cheerfully arrange to offer a credit card "through" your employer which is actually based on your own credit history and is your own responsibility. It's a big marketing thing with a "business advantage" of imprinting your company name below your name. Read the fine print on these offers.
posted by desuetude at 9:21 AM on August 30, 2019

"Business travel without a credit card seems tricky"

I do it all the time. It's definitely possible; you just need enough funds in your checking account to cover stuff on your debit card. That's the OP's problem. I've been fortunate enough that, for most of my career, I've been able to keep a cushion of $1000 or more in my account, and once the OP can do that, it should be smooth sailing. But the catch-22 is how the OP will build that cushion if he can't afford to do the work to start out.

That's a really weird assertion, and I suspect if it works for you that you're not doing the kind of travel OP is discussing here.

It is not possible to float corporate air travel with a debit card and a $1000 cushion. That's ludicrous. It's also foolish to use a debit card for this scale of transaction, because in the case of error or overcharging you're literally out cash, which can cause other critical payments (e.g., your mortgage) to fail.

With a credit card, you have a "firewall" of sorts.

IME, $1500-2000 a week in travel expenses is very, very normal between air travel (say, $600 round trip), car rental ($300-400), hotel (3-4 nights at $150), and meals & incidentals (GSA allows $55 per day, which is pretty normal; some firms allow more). These figures work for most of the country, but obviously everything is more expensive in major cities.
posted by uberchet at 10:07 AM on August 30, 2019 [3 favorites]

I think they're a small 3-4 person company ...

This is quite different from what uberchet is talking about, direct employee at a large corporation. What guarantee to you have that this small 3-4 person company will pay you back? Extending thousands of dollars of personal credit to a tiny company like that seems nuts. For all you know that company may already be running on nothing but those three people own personal credit cards and have cash flow problems. Have you checked into their reputation and financials? Do they have a record of paying bills on time or stretching out to 90 days or more?
posted by JackFlash at 10:30 AM on August 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

what uberchet is talking about, direct employee at a large corporation.

Er, no. The pattern I laid out is one I've lived working for 150+ person firms and 3-person firms.

At the end of the day, you either trust the folks you're working with, or you don't. If you have reason to believe their solvency is questionable, it's fair to ask for a travel advance to get started, though.
posted by uberchet at 12:06 PM on August 30, 2019

I've had several direct-hire full-time high-travel jobs

By direct-hire, I assume you mean a legal employee, not a contractor. A legal employee has certain rights and protections about compensation that a contractor does not.

I have been a consultant for Fortune 500 companies and small startups. I might give a small startup 30 days on compensation and see how it goes, but I would never advance them thousands in cash out of my own pocket. As a consultant, you have very little recourse if they run out of money.
posted by JackFlash at 12:41 PM on August 30, 2019

(Well, I've also done it as a contractor, and it's pretty common there, too -- though in those cases if you're solo is not unusual to get a travel advance.)
posted by uberchet at 12:55 PM on August 30, 2019

There was an Ask A Manager "ask the readers" post about a very similar situation a few years ago. You might find it helpful.
posted by SisterHavana at 7:45 PM on August 30, 2019

If the travel was foreseen and part of the contract, or if you are contracted with the company on a time and materials basis, then you might be in a difficult situation. In these kind of circumstances, it's generally given that you will pay the travel yourself and then it is billed together with your professional fees. If this is the case, you really needed to have negotiated the fact that the travel will be paid in advance as part of your initial engagement.

If you are just contracting into the company for your labour on an ongoing basis, and the travel wasn't necessarily foreseen, I think you're within your rights to ask them to organise it on your behalf.
posted by ryanbryan at 9:03 PM on August 30, 2019