How to Make Business Travel Arrangements?

When making business travel arrangements, a travel manager must consider several factors. Here's a look at the key factors that make travel planning far less overwhelming. 

 

Making travel arrangements for a business trip requires a lot of advance planning to ensure a safe and hassle-free experience for employees. Here are the key factors that go into planning a smooth business trip.

How to Make Travel Arrangements for a Business Trip

Corporate travel planning involves a number of steps, as explained below. 

Learn About the Destination 

Do some research about the destination to learn about its local customs, laws, culture, and travel advisories, if any, especially if employees are travelling internationally. Based on the research, you can communicate important matters to employees. For example, if pickpocketing is prevalent in the city, warn travellers to be extra careful about their belongings and business documents. Also, share information on how they can get around the city, whether the company will arrange for transport, and walking distances for hotels, client offices, and other relevant places. 

Adhere to the Company's Travel Policy

A corporate travel policy outlines guidelines for business-related travel. It contains travel booking procedures, expenses that can be reimbursed, travel safety measures, and approval processes. While you're expected to make travel arrangements in compliance with your company's travel policy, business travellers are expected to meet rules on submitting expenses for reimbursement. This is to ensure that the main objective of the travel policy, whether it has to do with cost or flexible travel, is met. 

Find the Best Deals on Flights, Hotels and Car Rentals

Researching and comparing flights, hotels, and car rentals is essential to getting the best deals. Identify cheap flights that match travelling dates and provide a comfortable experience to travellers. Additionally, booking flights in advance is the simplest way to keep costs low. 

Another way is to negotiate lower rates with hotel chains in locations where your employees stay most frequently on their business trips. Various travel service providers, including hotels, offer corporate businesses special rates and discounts. The trick is to have access to these corporate fares. With an ideal online business travel management platform like myBiz,  you get exclusive access to the largest hotel inventory and specially negotiated corporate fares for hotel bookings. In addition, you can access special corporate rates on flights and get additional benefits like free seats and reduced cancellation fees on last-minute cancellations. 

Book Flights to Traveller's Preferences

A positive travel experience contributes to employee satisfaction and productivity. When arranging travel for employees, consider their flight preferences. There may be certain airlines that business travellers generally prefer due to the following factors:

• Convenient flight timings 
• Better service 
• More meal choices
• Hospitable staff, and other factors. 

Understanding travellers' preferences based on their previous trips can help with personalisation, booking flights more quickly, and saving time for other travel arrangements. 

Hence, customised booking doesn't have to drive costs up—you can meet employees' preferences while staying within your corporate travel policy. 

Choose the Right Accommodation

The hotel employees stay at should provide a good experience. Choosing the right accommodation is important as it is a matter of employees' well-being and convenience. Here’s what you can do:

• Research hotels thoroughly by visiting hotel websites
• Read online reviews about them
• Make direct inquiries with the hotel.

Additionally, here are some factors to be mindful of before booking a hotel for corporate travel:

Location

The hotel should be situated in a secure area, conveniently close to the primary destinations employees will visit during their trip. This ensures:

• Employees feel safe while navigating a new city
• They can access amenities swiftly
• Avoid long, tiring commutes to and from client locations. 

Amenities

Hotel rooms and amenities can have an impact on business travellers' productivity. A comfortable hotel room has high-quality bedding, soft pillows, and cosy linens. It's good if they have blackout curtains as some may find them helpful in getting sleep easily and ensuring privacy. Amenities like a gym, swimming pool, spa, or gaming area are great for guests who have active lifestyles, which they wish to maintain on their business travels. These amenities also help business travellers unwind after a hectic day. 

Safety

Traveller safety is a key aspect in the travel arrangement process. Hotels that care about guest safety have a few things in common. They have a 24-hour staffed lobby, digital room keys, secondary locks, latches, and door viewers, a well-lit exterior, secure parking facilities, CCTV surveillance on every floor, fire safety equipment, and emergency exit manuals. In case something doesn't feel right to employees, they should be advised to contact front desk staff. 

Meal Preferences

Satisfying meals enhance the hotel experience. Take into account employees' meal preferences and check if they're available at the hotel you're planning to book. 

Prepare a Detailed Itinerary

A detailed itinerary ensures you don’t miss any important details. It also helps you estimate the overall trip budget.

When preparing an employee itinerary, make sure to include the following:

Flights: List detailed information about each flight, including arrival and departure times, take-off and landing times, any layovers, and the class of service.

Transportation: Include details on transportation, such as rental car services, airport pickup and drop-off times, hotel transport options, and company-provided travel between locations.

Hotel/Accommodation: Provide information on the hotel, including check-in and check-out times, location, meal schedules, available cuisine, complimentary breakfast, amenities, and distances to locations employees will be visiting. 

Sightseeing: Business travellers might want to explore the city during their free time. Include information on local entertainment, sightseeing spots, and adventure activities, and restaurant recommendations to experience the local cuisine. 

In addition, ensure you book flights early, secure accommodations in safe areas, arrange necessary travel documents, establish local contacts, and have reliable cab rental services ready to prevent last-minute chaos.

Ensure Employees Carry Required Travel Documents  

It's important to have the right documents when travelling for business, especially internationally. As a travel manager, you should make sure employees have their necessary travel documents and know how to keep them safe. Essential documents include:

• Visa
• Passport
• Travel plans
• Proof of accommodation
• Company ID 
• Business cards
• Travel insurance
• Vaccination records. 

Having physical and digital copies of these documents is helpful in case something gets lost or isn't available when needed.

Share Emergency Contacts

When researching travel risks, consider political, security, and cultural factors at your destination. Also, be aware of personal safety risks and the potential impact of weather or unexpected natural disasters. In emergencies, employees should know whom to contact and how to seek assistance.

Make a list of emergency and medical contacts, like embassies and local emergency services. Make sure employees know how far these places are from where they are staying. Also, give employees your contact information and the contact information of other people who can help in an emergency. If travelling with others, remind employees to keep each other's phone numbers. 

Women travellers are more vulnerable to safety risks than their male counterparts. They face higher chances of harassment, assault, and discrimination. To support female employees, your travel policy should address these unique challenges.

Create a Travel Safety Policy

A corporate travel policy offers benefits for the company and its employees. The travel policy helps manage travel expenses and offers greater control over the travel budget. It reduces conflicts around expenses and reimbursements that may arise. The policy also ensures that every employee is treated fairly and consistently, contributing to a positive company culture.

Employees enjoy the freedom to make their own travel bookings while adhering to the company's guidelines. Hence, booking travel becomes simpler and less stressful for employees.

Here are some tips on creating a corporate travel policy:

Communicating the travel policy effectively is key. Ensure that business travellers have all the relevant documents, whether through the intranet or an online travel platform. Make sure the policy is clearly communicated, especially to line managers, so they can enforce it properly.

Use An Online Travel Management Platform

As a travel manager, you will have an easier time managing corporate travel with an online travel planning platform that assists with various aspects of business travel. It ensures efficient expense management, cost savings, employee satisfaction, and other benefits. myBiz is an ideal business travel management platform that takes care of both atravel nd expense management, suggests cheap flights and top-rated hotels, helps claim expense reimbursements, ensures employee-friendly bookings, and more. Business travel arrangements are more efficient and streamlined with myBiz. Schedule a free demo now!

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Q1. How to make business travel arrangements to improve employees' productivity?

Ans. To improve employees' productivity during business travel, choose hotels in safe, convenient locations close to key destinations. Ensure travel itineraries minimize transit times, provide access to necessary amenities, and offer reliable communication tools and support.

Q2. What is the best way to ensure that travel arrangements are made efficiently?

Ans. Travel arrangements by office administration is inherently difficult. A comprehensive travel policy and an online travel management system can make the job easier. While a travel policy provides effective control over travel expenses and enhances safety measures, a travel management system, on the other hand, streamlines and automates travel booking and reporting.

Q3. How to plan business travel arrangements to stay within budget?

Ans. Using company-approved travel options, booking in advance, and taking advantage of loyalty programs are some ways of staying within the corporate travel budget. Employees should be advised to keep all receipts and be mindful of their meal and transportation expenses. Consider promoting the use of expense tracking apps to more easily track spending on business travels.

Q4. What are some methods of business travel reimbursement?

Ans. Common methods of paying business travel allowances include:

• Per day (per diem) allowance for daily food and accommodation, which you can provide in advance or reimbursement after the trip.
• A corporate credit card with spending limits.
• Reimburse trip expenses after employees return to office.
• Provide cash to employees for miscellaneous expenses.

Make travel arrangements keeping in mind the reimbursement policy. Employees should also be advised to adhere to the policy so that they are compensated, as required, smoothly

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