05/ 30/ 2007
by Shannon McRae
Top picks for small-business road warriors
Whether you travel once a year or once a week, being away from home is usually more mundane than glamorous. If you have to be on the road, you should at least be comfortable. MyBusiness editors present our top travel-service choices for small-business road warriors:
Airline
Southwest: While its competitors battle bankruptcy, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines soars in the airline industry. Known for its open-seating policy and often-corny flight attendant serenades, the airline has received the lowest number of customer complaints since the U.S. Department of Transportation began tracking customer satisfaction statistics 10 years ago.
Business travelers are lured by its low-cost fares (the airline claims its average one-way airfare costs about $105) and its easy ticket-change policy. If you're a frequent flier, you'll rack up travel credits quickly: Earn a free round-trip ticket if you fly more than eight round-trips in a two-year period.
One downside to traveling by Southwest: The carrier offers lower fares by flying into secondary airports. But customers filled with "luv" for the airline don't mind, often finding it easier to catch the train from Baltimore's BWI to Washington, D.C., rather than deal with the headaches of getting in and out of Washington Dulles International.
Have several road warriors on staff? Use Southwest's business-travel service, SWABIZ, to track travel between departments and save big on booking fees.
Hotel
Hampton Inn: If the Ritz-Carlton isn't in your travel budget, Hampton Inn Hotels offer excellent service at a reasonable price (but pack your own bathrobe). With 1,400 locations across the country, the chain has gained recognition as a great resting place for small-business owners. Offering free high-speed Internet access in all rooms and a complimentary breakfast, Hampton Inns are a clean and comfortable place to spend a night away from home.
Every location includes a hospitality suite that can be booked for meetings or conferences. And the chain's convenient locations (usually just off an interstate or major highway) make them easy to find.
True road warriors will enjoy the rewards program, which allows travelers to accumulate both airline miles and hotel points with each qualifying stay.
Online Travel Service
Sidestep.com: If there's a good rate out there, Sidestep can help you find it. The search engine for travelers can survey more than 150 travel Web sites at once to find the best deals on airfare, hotels, car rentals and activities, such as special events and tours. It even offers comparison shopping on private jet services.
Forget bouncing from site to site looking for the best rate. Sidestep does the searching for you on travel agency sites like Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia, consolidation sites like Hotels.com and Web sites of nine car rental companies, 44 hotel chains and 27 airlines.
Car Rental
Enterprise Rent-A-Car: Touting itself as a big company with a small-business feel, Enterprise Rent-A-Car has a location within 15 miles of more than 90 percent of Americans. The company is known for hiring college graduates to work frontline jobs in many of its locations, which might be one reason why J.D. Power and Associates has named it No. 1 in customer satisfaction in the car-rental industry three years in a row.
For years, Enterprise focused only on neighborhood markets. But in 1995, it opened its first airport location and now operates on-site at 220 airports nationwide. Its no-frills options, affordable prices and friendly customer service make it appealing to independent-business owners.
It's a great pick not only if you're flying into an airport, but also if you or your employees need a rental car for a road trip. The company really means it when it promises: "We'll pick you up"--and at no extra cost.
NFIB.com
Want more tips on getting there and back? Check out "Travel" in the "Office" section of www.NFIB.com/toolsandtips.
