With such a wealth of planning options now available at travellers’ fingertips, the question is: how can PAs be sure they are doing the right thing for their executives on the go? Catherine McGavock provides some answers. Traditionally, business travel has been managed by obliging bookers to make arrangements through a dedicated channel – a TMC or corporate online booking tool. This has meant the travel manager could control what was available to book, collect financial data, manage security and ensure adherence to company travel policy. The rise of the internet, however, has changed our lives enormously, with technology now allowing us to plan a trip in a matter of minutes. And with the introduction of smartphones that enable you to book a flight, check its status, check in online and then generate your boarding pass, it’s clear to see the lines of travel booking are becoming more and more blurred.
This has led to an increasing number of travellers wanting to book trips according to their personal preferences – hence the rise of ‘open booking’, whereby travellers book their own travel, using expense management systems to then collect data on travel spend. This makes enforcing travel policy much more of an issue and raises concerns about how to keep employees safe.
So how can you make sure you are doing the best thing for both your employer and traveller when arranging business travel? First of all, where your organisation has a travel policy, book within that. While it may appear at first glance that you can find cheaper rates than your approved hotels or airlines, the deal with your current provider may well be part of a wider arrangement that delivers greater savings to your organisation overall, based on volume booked in a given period.
Secondly, book as far in advance as possible; while this is not always feasible it can result in considerable savings. Also, if you can, opt for less flexible but cheaper options. Obviously this only works if you are confident your travellersare not going to change their plans.
Thirdly, keep an eye on the extras – do you really need to add a bag to that air booking? Is the slightly cheaper hotel really a saving when it means your traveller will have to take a taxi to the meeting? It might be more cost-effective to book a more expensive property that is just around the corner from where the meeting is taking place. If you do need to book a car for your executive, there are service providers that allow you to book and pay for cabs throughout Europe, thereby providing a convenient way to arrange taxis in advance while keeping a clear view of the cost.
Finally, always keep in mind that your traveller needs to be productive before, during and after their trip and that travelling can be very tiring. Where it is feasible, book in a way that recognises this. This doesn’t need to mean first-class seats or five-star hotels; it can be as simple as appreciating that while a 7pm train may be significantly cheaper than one that departs earlier in the day, arriving home at 11pm can cost a lot more in terms of traveller stress and staff morale in the long term.
Catherine McGavock is the Director of Operations for Europe at the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Europe. The GBTA is the world’s premier members’ business travel organisation with a network of 21,000 business and government travel and meetings managers, as well as travel service providers. Visit the website at gbta.org/Europe
