5 Tips for Busy Office Managers Booking Business Travel
There’s no end to how busy everyone is these days. It seems more and more like time is speeding up and there just is never enough of it to get the things done that are needed. Then someone goes on a business trip and it wasn’t planned, too expensive and they’re hit by unnecessary financial woes. This happens all too often without having the correct procedures in place. Take some tips to address this issue before it arises for the first time or again,
1. Identification. This seems to be a straightforward simple tip but sending out new emails and hunting people down for their documents is a high percentage of issues that will slow the process down. When new employees come into the office, after their probation, a protected file of their passport should be taken so that it’s easy to access when a last-minute trip pops up, they always do.
2. Last minute. Happens so often and to everyone. The meeting is booked as it’s the only time the client has, act fast and use comparison sites like Enjoycarhire.com, Skyscanner.net and Expedia to find the best deal available, don’t research over and over though as the IP address will become stuck in their cookies and then the price will jump in a simple refreshing of the page. Always check the prices against the actual airline as well.
3. Template it. For most places in the world we are unique. When it comes to travelling we are as well, to a certain point, but everyone passes through security, everyone needs documentation and everyone needs a list of what the appointments are, where they are and what a couple of good off the cuff tips on the city are too and of course the weather. If this is pre-determined, then updated as needed, all you have to do is slot in the relevant name, destination, cloud coverage and send it out.
4. Do it yourself. If you are constantly sending others somewhere you haven’t been then try it yourself. There’s no end to the value you can add not just to the business but also to your outlook on the world itself. It will rub off on you and then you can pass it onto the traveller as a little handy hint, a personal touch that everyone will enjoy.
5. Consistency can be contractual. If you know that your executive or employee or even your colleague is going to be travelling often to the same destination then set up agreed rates with suppliers of hotels and cars so that the travel can feel almost as if they never left home.