While a lot can be done via teleconference and other web based technology these days, there are still plenty of occasions where as a business, you need to send some of your people to other cities or even other parts of the world to get things done. If, as a business, you do this a lot, you need to find the best way to handle all the planning and booking that goes along with it. There are really three ways to do this, and they all have their merits, but which is right for you?
Let Staff Do It Themselves
One of the easiest ways to handle it is to let the person who is going on a trip, or the manager of a team if they are all going, handle planning and booking it. This can work well if you have consultants who are flying here and there all the time and are experienced in making travel arrangements, but not so well when it is someone who only makes a couple of trips a year and might be a bit daunted by the idea of finding all their own flights and hotels. When you do this, you also need clear policies on what they can and can't do, or you may end up with people thinking they can fly business when you'd prefer they went coach, and then booking themselves in for all the spa treatments on offer at the hotel at your expense! You also need to give them a way to pay for things as it is unfair to expect people to pay for expensive things like flights and then claim it back later as they may not have funds available, so you will need to issue corporate credit or charge cards.
Internal Logistics People
Another way to do things is to have a person or team who handles travel arrangements for everyone. Depending on the nature of your business and how many people travel this could be part of someone like a secretary's role, or could be a full time job for a small team. The benefit of this is only these people need to know the ins and outs of your travel policies and have a means to pay, and you can hire or choose people who are competent when it comes to the travel area.
External Travel Agents
The third option, and often the best for small to medium sized companies who don't want the expense of staff to do this work for them, or to make their own staff do it, is to use the services of a business travel company. This does take almost all of the work out of your hands and means all people need to do is contact this firm when arrangements need to be made. This can be done on a casual basis or by forming an official relationship with one travel agency, though if you need a reliable company who can handle everything for a
Jack Foster, the author of this article, is a sales executive at, Teplis Travel, a leading corporate travel company, based in Atlanta. He is pretty good with the drums and plays for a band at the local pub on weekends.
