Who is a Travel Manager and why does your company need one?
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For companies where business trips are a regular and significant part of operations, the presence of a Travel Manager is crucial. Professional business travel management is fundamental to building efficiency, safety, and cost optimization. A Travel Manager is a specialist who manages every aspect of travel: from travel policy, through ticket and hotel reservations, negotiating corporate rates (e.g., with airlines and hotels), to ensuring the comfort of traveling employees. Want to learn more about the role of a Travel Manager? Be sure to read on!
Responsibilities of a Travel Manager
A business travel manager is responsible for managing a company's business travel operations from both an operational and strategic perspective. This position requires knowledge of new technologies, finance, and advanced negotiation skills.
| Task | Description |
|---|---|
| Travel policy | Creating a clear and transparent travel policy for employees and updating it regularly. A properly prepared document should align with company goals and balance savings with employee convenience. It's crucial to include budget limits and acceptable travel classes, depending on the destination. Due to growing awareness of ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance), travel managers are increasingly integrating sustainable travel guidelines into their travel policies. This is not just a trend, but a strategic response to market expectations and a commitment to a smaller carbon footprint. |
| Travel budget and expense management | The Travel Manager's role is to continuously monitor travel-related expenses and identify opportunities for savings. This includes negotiating contract terms, discounts, and loyalty benefits with suppliers (airlines, hotels, car rental companies). |
| Reservations, logistics, and overall travel organization | A corporate travel manager handles the booking process for flights, trains, accommodations, and local transportation at a destination. This specialist's responsibilities also include combining itineraries, providing airport-to-hotel transfers, synchronizing departure dates with company schedules, and managing changes to travel itineraries. |
| Safety and duty of care | A corporate travel manager serves as a key support system for traveling employees, especially when faced with unforeseen events. They provide 24/7 assistance and support, managing emergencies such as cancelled flights, stolen documents, or urgent rebooking. The Travel Manager also manages travel insurance and checks visa and sanitary requirements in the destination country, which helps employees prepare for their business trips. |
| Data analysis and reporting | A business travel expert demonstrates a proactive approach and strives to optimize business travel. The Travel Manager's responsibilities include regular collection, analysis, and reporting of data from business trips. |
| Implementation of technological tools | Travel Manager is open to automating business travel processes by implementing an online booking system, such as the worktrips.com platform. |
| Training and internal communication | The Travel Manager's responsibilities include building awareness and promoting employee compliance with travel procedures. She educates travelers on travel policies and their ongoing changes. |
What will you gain by hiring a Travel Manager?
Hiring a dedicated Travel Manager for your company is a strategic investment that brings many benefits. What are they? We've summarized the most important ones in the table below.
| Saving money | A business travel manager employed by the company (or another person, such as an Office Manager, Management Assistant, or Administration Manager, after appropriate training) enforces compliance with the travel policy, which generates real savings. |
| More precise process control | A Travel Manager using appropriate business travel automation tools, such as the worktrisp.com platform, controls the entire process in real time and can influence it. |
| Increased security | If there is a person in the company who is responsible for business trips, employees know who to contact regarding travel and feel much safer. |
| Freeing up employees' time | Organizing business trips with a Travel Manager saves employees time. Travelers don't have to focus on paperwork, gather documents, or submit reimbursement applications on their own. |
| Increasing satisfaction | Clear travel policy rules introduced by the Travel Manager eliminate misunderstandings and improve employee experience while traveling. |
Business travel technology that accompanies the Travel Manager
Gone are the days when organizing business trips relied on manual processes and endless paperwork. To maintain maximum efficiency, business travel managers are increasingly focusing on process automation. Using online travel management tools like the worktrips.com platform offers numerous benefits. The most important include:
- constant control over travel policy (automatic verification of compliance of reservations with adopted rules),
- availability of data in one place, which facilitates expense management and analysis,
- the ability to supervise self-booking of travel by employees.
Combining Travel Manager's expertise with a technology platform is the best way to ensure consistent business travel processes and significantly optimize costs. This ensures that employee travel becomes streamlined once and for all.
