Improved communication is key in business travel

PAs who are responsible for booking business travel will need effective communication to help achieve their travel programme objectives in 2013, according to findings from Carlson Wagonlit Travel’s latest survey.

The research shows that communication is vital whether the goal is to improve travel policy compliance, mandate the use of preferred hotels, or provide critical destination-specific information in terms of safety and security.

With this in mind, CWT has recently introduced two new functionalities to its messaging services, CWT Programme Messenger, to give PAs and travel managers flexibility and additional options when communicating with their travellers.

For instance, bookers now have the ability to send notifications in near real-time, so that others can be notified almost immediately if they have made a booking that does not respect the company’s travel policy.

They can also schedule messaging and send SMS notifications based on a specific event in the itinerary, such as a scheduled text message on arrival at a destination, which informs the traveller how best to continue their journey.