Business travel involves multiple variables like modes of transportation, airport transfers, local transportation, hotel bookings with check-in and check-out times, etc. Hence, to effectively manage the travel requirements and stay on schedule, a well-thought itinerary is highly essential.
A business travel itinerary includes a journey plan between multiple destinations to mitigate the complexity of the travel. The employee is better positioned to focus on the business objective of the travel instead of struggling to make last-minute plans or search for critical travel-related information in an unfamiliar location.
An organization’s business travel itinerary must comply with the travel policy. Integrating travel guidelines and cost control measures into a travel itinerary is challenging.
Corporate travel managers and TMCs prefer app-based travel management platforms to allow employees the freedom to create travel itineraries. It streamlines the travel management functions without deviating from the travel policy.
Types of business travel itinerary
Business travel itineraries serve specific business purposes. Through travel itineraries, company employees effectively achieve multiple goals, like sales, services, conferences, training programs, and trade fairs. There are few types of itineraries depending upon the goal of the travel. The following are a few examples of travel itineraries and highlights about how to create these.
1. Field sales itinerary
Business itineraries for sales executives need an in-depth knowledge of the availability of customers. It is better to fix prior appointments to avoid hassles. A field sales executive should plan an itinerary for an entire month. One must have leeway for making changes if there are unexpected events, like cancellation of appointments or any hotel and flight bookings. Sales executives like to have the flexibility to change the plan if a particular sales meeting lasts longer than expected. There should be a sufficient time gap between two sales appointments to facilitate extra time for meetings and traffic issues.
A SaaS-based travel management platform like Paxes allows employees the flexibility of modifying the itinerary to incorporate changes.
The itinerary of sales executives must outline transportation details between destinations. Providing an option to Plan B if the original plan does not work out.
2. Events and conferences itinerary
Trade conferences and exhibitions are crucial for establishing the organization’s visibility, networking, and knowledge sharing. Most trade events and conferences offer the opportunity to attend sessions by subject experts. The business trip itinerary with meeting schedule requires surgical precision to maximize the benefits of the sessions and meetings. One can visit the exhibition during breaks between the two sessions.
The itinerary for business meetings should provide details of transport facilities and contact numbers of local travel agents. The hotel address for the stay during the conference is essential with the date and time of checking in and checking out.
3. International business trip itinerary
The international travel itinerary empowers the business executive with adequate knowledge about the destination countries and ways to navigate and communicate without hassles during business trips.
Travel details like flight schedules, airport transfers, and local transport are crucial while constructing an itinerary for international business travel. Employees should also know about places to eat and information about local culture. Knowledge of all local public transport options will help the international business traveler choose an appropriate mode like cabs, tube, metro, or bus. Printouts of relevant maps are helpful as a reference if there are issues with the mobile network.
Suggested Read: Basic Guidelines For International Business Travelers
How to create business travel itinerary
Constructing a business travel itinerary that matches employees’ preferences for travel and accommodation is crucial for a satisfying and productive business trip. The business travel itinerary should have each detail that an employee may require during the business trip.
The itinerary should be easily accessible to the employee and managers. Creating an itinerary using a travel management platform allows easy access to all stakeholders, including employees, line managers, corporate travel managers, HR executives, and finance executives.
The itinerary’s compliance with the travel policy of the organization is mandatory. Corporate travel managers and TMCs should design a relevant template for constructing an itinerary that incorporates the specific travel policy guidelines.
Enabling employees to create their travel itineraries through SaaS-based travel apps and platforms ensures freedom of choosing the mode of transport, airline, and accommodation.
These platforms help corporate travel managers and TMCs integrate a company’s travel policy to avoid deviations. Employees have seamless access to several travel options because of the massive inventories of hotels, LCCs, and SOTO options.
What should business travel itinerary include
The following are key considerations while creating a business travel itinerary:
- Thorough information about transportation and staying arrangements in each segment of the business trip
- Total travel time with a time of departure and arrival
- Flight details like carrier and PNR
- Hotel check-in and check-out time
- Contact details of hotel reception and transport staff
- Details of meeting schedules
- Phone numbers of business contacts
- Venue address of business conference or trade expo
- Gate passes with breakfast, lunch, and banquet coupons for conferences
- Specifics of a business meeting, objectives, and contact numbers of local dealers
A business travel itinerary should be a one-stop reference source to know every minute detail of destination location, local transportation, to-and-fro travel, and accommodation. It should include schedules of programs and business meetings.
Benefits of business travel itinerary
The business travel itinerary facilitates a smooth business trip for employees. It helps improve the traveling experience and the productivity of the business trip.
The itinerary is a crucial outline of the business trip as it significantly eliminates the uncertainty of travel and accommodation. Employees know where to stay and whom to meet with precise appointment schedules by referring to the business itinerary. Further, it helps an employee know better about packing list for business travel. An ideal business travel itinerary considers business travelers’ priorities, like preferences for transportation and accommodation. It looks into the food choices of the employee to facilitate a smooth traveling experience.
Prioritization of the various business objectives is a crucial advantage of a business travel itinerary. It aims to provide sufficient time to the employee between arrival at the hotel and the first point of the business trip’s agenda. The employee can also get enough time to prepare if they are going to deliver a sales presentation.
Conclusion
Thorough planning is critical for the success of any business activity, including business travel. The business travel itinerary is an important aspect of business travel as it provides every piece of essential information to the business traveler. Paxes is an established travel management solution to simplify the construction and implementation of a business travel itinerary. It integrates the company’s travel policy, promising strict compliance, and offers an app feature to grant autonomy to employees for creating or changing business travel itineraries.
Business Travel Itinerary FAQs
What does a business travel itinerary include?
A business travel itinerary is a plan used for business travel. The business travel itinerary includes information on travel requirements, necessities, and booking information for all the hotels, flights, and transportation.
What is a field sales itinerary?
A field sales itinerary is where the employee goes out from their regular office setting to make sales outside of the office. The field sales itinerary helps map out the necessary locations for travel, along with the specific requirements and arrangements that are made for the trip.
Who should create the business travel itinerary?
The travel management company and travel managers are responsible for creating a travel itinerary for the employee that includes all necessary information about the employee business trip.
What is a conference and event itinerary?
An event or conference itinerary is a plan or schedule of a specific event that includes all of the important dates, events, and their location or timing.
What is an international business trip itinerary?
An international business trip itinerary is a schedule made when an employee travels out of the country for business. The international business itinerary includes international information such as foreign laws, visas, and travel information for an efficient and hassle-free trip.
