Employee prohibited from booking own travel and takes revenge by instructing company travel agency to book the most luxurious flights and hotels, tripling the costs

Author image for Sienna Varady
Sienna Varady
Sep 23, 2024 9:00 AM EDT

Humans are often creatures of habit, meaning they like things done a certain way even if it doesn't make sense or is financially beneficial in the long run.

The story below is an account of a frustrated employee. The original poster (OP) had been employed by the same business for a considerable amount of time. He must occasionally fly for work-related meetings as part of his profession. Therefore, OP prefers to usually plan the trip on his own, without the assistance of a travel agency, in an effort to save money. But as of late, the company has implemented new guidelines mandating that the worker make travel arrangements through the corporate travel agency. The company maintained in its stance and asked OP to graciously comply, despite OP's numerous pleas.

But, instead, OP devised a cunning scheme to teach them a lesson they would never forget. So be sure to read the story below if you're interested in learning how OP got his revenge! Additionally, after you're through, don't forget to read the story of the man who, after his aunt criticizes his house during a storm, kicks her out!

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  • 01
    TRAVEL AGENCY love New tatad FIND YOUR TOUR Q DED
    via Ralf Hahn
  • 02
    I'm not allowed to go outside of our travel agency to save money, so I didn't.
    via u/tenderbabyribs
  • 03
    I have quite a flair for finding cheap travel and accomodation. My travels on a strict budget have taken me to three continents so far so I'd say I've picked up a few tricks. Nowadays I get the pleasure of doing short trips with my work when attending conferences and seminars. As I prefer not to waste money I've arranged the trips privately and then requested it payed back afterwards.
    via u/tenderbabyribs
  • 04
    It worked out well for all of us, budget wise. Then we got new directions for handling travel costs... We all had to go through a new travel agency whenever booking, well, anything. The top brass held a talk about it and everything. We were warned that onwards, any application for money back after a trip booked privately may be outright denied. I had tried to use the travel agency before but found that it only
    via u/tenderbabyribs
  • 05
    allowed a few overpriced airlines and hotels, and it wouldn't let you book anything outside of their "approved" connections. Cue malicious compliance. Where I previously combined train and bus tickets to reduce cost I now just selected the top option. Oh, five times more expensive? Too bad. A nice low range hotel that covered my needs? No longer available, choose suggested option. I guess I will stay at the Hilton then.
    via u/tenderbabyribs
  • 06
    I just got back from a trip that costed five times what I could've paid if I had been able to do my thing. No flights were available the day I could've left so I went a day earlier. No afternoon flight was available after my meeting, so I stayed an extra night. I was basically off work half a week extra because of that travel agency and the trip ended up costing more than my monthly paycheck.
    via u/tenderbabyribs
  • 07
    Oh, and the travel agency? They were apparently the lowest bidder on the contract, claiming they'd supply the cheapest travel options. I enjoyed the complementary champagne.
    via u/tenderbabyribs
  • 08
    sailboatfool 12h ago Happened to me also. Found out the managers and executives were taking expensive vacations on points we earned. Stopped when no one would travel because it became common knowledge
    via u/sailboatfool
  • 09
    • Mountain-Butterfly38 12h ago Alot of companies have these "contracts" and it's because they get some other benefits out of it (think of it like cashback). But hey, if they'd rather spend 5x more, let them. Penny wise, pound foolish
    via u/Mountain-Butterfly38
  • 10
    RandomBoomer 12h ago You should enjoy yourself. Not your money, not your circus.
    via u/RandomBoomer
  • 11
    Immediate-Season-293 · 12h ago Someone in the executive offices is getting free vacation miles or something out of this.
    via u/Immediate-Season-293
  • 12
    arwinda 12h ago Often the compliance is not for people who always book the cheapest option, but for people. who book the expensive option and then want that reimbursed. Having a service or a company enforcing this while the booking is made saves the company money in the long run.
    via u/arwinda
  • 13
    velvetjones01 11h ago I understand your motivation to save the company money and that's commendable. I worked for a Fortune 500 company, and have a lot of experience with corporate travel programs and policies. If there's a lot of travel at your company, a centralized system can provide the company savings, and policy controls (like not allowing first class travel, etc.) But more
    via u/velvetjones01
  • 14
    importantly, it reduces risk. By booking centrally, your itinerary is trackable. They also might have rules about hotels that are available. This seems like overkill, until something happens and things happen. I've personally had to track down individuals traveling for the company after a headline-making local catastrophe. It also helps with re-booking if you miss a flight or there's a cancelation. The other piece is safety at hotels.
    via u/velvetjones01
  • 15
    This is especially important when traveling abroad. Major “flags" have security and safety standards that often exceed local building code. This is why many business travelers choose Marriott vs say the local inn. Your company cares about you enough to keep you safe but they're mostly doing this to avoid lawsuits.
    via u/velvetjones01
  • 16
    • Atypicosaurus ⚫ 10h ago Company operation assumes worst case, not best case. The reason is that there are many more potential worst cases than best cases. In this story, you are a best case. An employee that would happily a e the system is the worst case.
    via u/Atypicosaurus
  • 17
    The alternative could be to just to tell people to organize their trips, and have someone checking whether they a sed the travel. That costs a lot. So basically they are okay to spend an average cost that's 5x more than a very frugal professional traveller would spend and maybe somewhat more than an average traveller would spend in order to avoid tricksters. This way is still cheaper than the alternative.
    via u/Atypicosaurus
  • 18
    TravelerMSY 12h ago It's an evergreen one. We really need a flair for "Pennywise pound foolish." There are often good reasons for having preferred suppliers, though. You see the booking price, but the real price is after fairly significant end of year corporate rebates get applied, especially for air.
    via u/TravelerMSY
  • 19
    Of course, none of these booking agencies account for the money they have to pay you while you're wasting time on inconvenient routings. It's all under the assumption that your salary and don't get any comp time.
    via u/TravelerMSY
  • 20
    Proper-Hippo-6006 ⚫9h ago Really? You book your own business travels to save money for your employer? What's wrong with you?
    via u/Proper-Hippo-6006
  • 21
    Electronic-Lab-4419 • 11h ago You stayed at a Hilton? Come on! Next time pick a Ritz Carlton. (Marriott brand) You get points. (Help you in the future for your own personal travel.) Plus you can upgrade your stay and add access to the Club lounge on your employer's bill. Good food. If you want something else while in the Club, they will probably not charge you extra.
    via u/Electronic-Lab-4419
  • 22
    Zolty 8h ago Not your money, what do you care?
    via u/Zolty
  • 23
    crash866 • 11h ago I knew someone that did something like that. Used to fly between Toronto Canada and NYC for meetings. He could take public transit to YTO and the office was closer to Newark airport. He could catch the first flight of the morning rent a car and be at a morning meeting and fly back in the afternoon.
    via u/crash866
  • 24
    Corporate insisted on using their preferred agency and airline. It only flew from YYZ to LGA. He would have to take an Uber to the airport to catch the flight it would not get him to the meeting until 10. He would fly the night before get a rental car and a hotel room for the night. By the time the meetings were over it was too late to fly back so a second night hotel and then fly back the next morning.
    via u/crash866
  • 25
    Two nights hotel, meals and car rentals. Uber to and from YYZ to his place was $50-$60 each way. The flight from YTO to Newark was about $50 cheaper than YYZ to LGA. Cost the company about 4 times as much as instead of one day away it was 3 days away.
    via u/crash866
  • 26
    kuldan5853 • 10h ago My company tried the same world wide (international big corp) - they stopped enforcing it quite quickly because the reality was that their scheme was working OK within the continental US, but totally fell apart abroad, especially in countries not dominated by big chains but local owner single property hotels..
    via u/kuldan5853
  • 27
    wild-hectare • 8h ago I once used a free rental day that was about to expire and was scolded for not using the preferred corporate vendor and rates. the cost for my executive class SUV for our group was $10 for the day. you can't fix stupid
    via u/wild-hectare
  • 28
    JohnStern42 • 7h ago Something I learned pretty early in my career: the company won't care about you saving them. travel expenses My first trip I did stupid things like just getting drive through or something for dinner. When I got back I realized there's zero reason for that.
    via u/JohnStern42
  • 29
    So I just book as recommended, and I eat out at regular sit down places. I choose hotels not on price, but my convenience. Flights I book based not on price, but on what is either most time efficient for me, or might offer some other thing. (ie connecting through an airport I've never been to).
    via u/JohnStern42
  • 30
    Only time I pull the price thing is if I'm trying to do something outside of normal. Due to flight prices I stayed an extra off day in Helsinki since the cost of flight plus extra hotel night was cheaper than taking a flight the day before. Since it meant I'd have a free day on a Saturday company didn't mind. Another time I showed the direct flight back was more expensive than a flight from another country 5 days later. I took vacation and flew Ryan air to that country to visit my parents for a
    via u/JohnStern42

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oddly specific workplace-stories employee work stories saving money employee of the month malicious compliance Professional At Work work petty revenge Travel workplace Reddit money oddly satisfying
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