Why Every Business Needs a Travel Manager
No matter how small or big your business is, there’s always room for growth. And one of the most lucrative ways to expand your company is to send your staff on corporate trips.
There are so many ways your business can benefit from crossing borders. Staff development, national and international conferences, meeting with clients and vendors to build personal relationships … the potential for impact is extensive.
But to capitalize on this industry, your business needs a travel manager. It’s a role that, when done well, pays for itself, as explained in this article by Hotel Engine.
Considering hiring a travel manager to enhance your business — and your bottom line? Here are reasons why you should stop debating today and bring in an expert to handle your corporate travel.
1. Business Trips Will Become More Efficient
If you’re sending your workers on trips right now, what’s your process? Who is booking the transportation and lodging and handling things like per diems and reimbursements?
These factors are essential pieces of the business travel puzzle, but if they’re handled by someone who isn’t trained and has many other job duties, there’s a good chance they’re not running efficiently.
When you have a corporate travel manager, this person (or team) knows the industry on a deeper level. They can adjust your travel policy to save time and money, ensure your company meets safety guidelines, and adjust workflows to follow federal and corporate travel policies.
2. Time Management is Better Across the Board
When a business trip is in the works, it impacts many people and departments. The traveler, the person in charge of setting up the itinerary and details, and the finance department are just a few of those involved.
Getting the trip details established, approved, and finalized takes a lot of time. Each step of the process is complicated when too many hands are in the pot, and none of them know the whole picture.
The travel manager is there to look at the overall results, then work backward to set up an efficient process. They design the workflow, so everyone knows their role and what to do/who to go to if they have questions or roadblocks.
Ultimately, using an expert to build this process from the ground up will help everyone manage their time better.
3. Better Employee Safety and Satisfaction Happens
Your duty of care for employee safety doesn’t end when they leave the premises; at least, not if they’re on a business trip. It actually increases to a “red alert” type of level.
It’s up to you (or your travel manager) to ensure your travelers are safe as they head out into the big world, representing your company. COVID taught us that this part of the job isn’t one we should take for granted. Danger can be invisible, too.
Having a travel manager who dedicates their time to stay up-to-date with safety precautions and guidelines reduces risk to your staff.
Because they know they’re taken care of, your employees have a higher satisfaction rate. They trust that the travel manager will handle things like missed connections due to flight delays, quarantine cancellations, and other on-the-road problems.
Variables like the pandemic, supply chain issues, and employee shortages have made traveling today a little extra volatile. When your business has a dedicated person in charge of the details, the hiccups and challenges travelers face don’t have to be mountainous obstacles. That’s why outsourcing some tasks such as Payroll or recruitment to a Employer of record company can be helpful in terms of time and money. Let’s say you want to expand into China and you don’t know anything about the market, then partnering with a Payroll Outsourcing China company would be the perfect solution.
4. Your ROI Goes Up
Booking a trip for multiple employees? Who is handling the lodging and transportation? Do they have time to cross-reference all the details and costs with other options? Do they know the best platforms to use to get corporate discounts?
Travel managers have the experience and knowledge to make your dollar go further. They understand that you shouldn’t have to sacrifice quality and comfort to reach your budget, so they focus on negotiating tactics with vendors and researching their options.
The savings a travel manager brings you will significantly increase your ROI, decrease the workload across multiple departments (saving money), and cover the paycheck for this new position.
Conclusion
Corporate travel is the next step when you’re ready to take your business to the next level. In general, it’s not rocket science, and anyone can book lodging and transportation, handle meal planning, and other logistics.
But with a travel manager taking care of the planning, these tasks are streamlined and cost-efficient. Employee safety and satisfaction, productivity, and profit increase with the addition of a travel management role in your company.
