Business travel is essential for providing efficient customer service, meeting prospective clients, training, and more. Several factors need consideration to ensure smooth and cost-effective business travel. Corporate travel management is through corporate travel managers that work behind the scene to control these factors. These could include deciding traveling costs, making bookings, sharing updates, preparing reports, and so much more.The travel manager complies with the organization’s travel policy and settlement of travel expenses while booking different business travels for the employees. Tracking and controlling travel costs are among his key responsibilities.
Why do organizations need a corporate travel manager?
Traveling expenditure contributes significantly to the total operating costs of companies. A corporate travel manager is instrumental in setting up a travel policy and ensuring regularly tracking. If the travel for any corporate organization is being managed by a top corporate TMC, the travel manager is point of contact for them. He is the one skilled and trained to handle all expenses and make this function smooth for the company.
What does a corporate travel manager do?
To understand what a corporate travel manager does, one must thoroughly understand the job responsibilities. The individual designs and ensures strict adherence to the corporate travel policy. Data analysis is one of the primary corporate travel manager jobs. It helps collect helpful insights into the effective utilization of the traveling budget.
The manager is also responsible for meeting the organization’s duty of care obligations by ensuring employees’ safety while traveling. The data can also detect deviations from the travel policy. This information helps take remedial actions. Corporate travel manager responsibilities include:
1. Creating a corporate travel policy
A comprehensive business travel policy helps manage and control traveling costs while ensuring the well-being of employees. A corporate travel manager is a custodian of the organization’s travel policy. Creating a corporate travel policy by setting different aspects of cost-effective travel practices is an essential duty of a corporate travel manager.
2. Overseeing travel plans and arrangements
In many organizations, a corporate travel manager looks after the granular aspects of employee travel plans and arrangements. These responsibilities include ensuring cost-effective options for local transportation, travel insurance, and accommodation by dealing with various service providers for the best rates.
3. Managing expenses and the travel budget
A Corporate travel manager use several strategies to control travel-related expenditures. While it is easy to fix credit card limits, the action will demoralize employees. The manager can use their interpersonal skills to convince employees about the expenditure limits while traveling and minimize the company’s cost on employee’s travel.
4. Helping employees with travel documents and travel laws
Overseas travel involves complexities of visa and other regulations depending on the destination country. A Corporate travel manager ensures that employees do not face any hurdles during international travel by educating employees about regulations and laws that are in force. They may enter an understanding with reputed travel agencies and streamline the documentation process.
3 Skills of an efficient corporate travel manager
If wants to know how to hire a corporate travel manager, one should hire someone who has good problem-solving, interpersonal, and communication skills. The manager must be capable of working on different fronts.
- Ensuring safe and hassle-free travel for employees while keeping close track of the expenditure.
- Designing strategies to reduce travel expenses without affecting employees’ morale requires proven skills.
- They must negotiate the best rates for transportation and accommodation with external agencies.
1. Management & problem-solving skills
The individual’s management skills are vital to supervising teams of travel executives in large organizations. These skills help optimize the use of resources to execute the organization’s travel policies. The problem-solving skills of the individual are necessary to help employees get instant guidance for their concerns.
2. Expert with technology
Technology is making inroads into all aspects of corporate travel managers’ functions. Being tech-savvy is essential for the manager, as they must use ERP systems and other popular platforms to generate critical travel data of any employee. In the absence of a travel agency, they should be comfortable using online booking portals of airlines and hotels,
3. Effective communication
Effectively communicating the corporate travel policy to employees is essential for the corporate travel manager. Informing employees about their responsibilities to control costs without disturbing their enthusiasm to travel requires superior communication skills. Most activities of any travel manager involve coordinating with vendors requiring communication skills.
Recently, many organizations are becoming serious about their duty of care responsibility, and hiring a corporate travel manager is a step toward this. The manager performs several functions besides ensuring cost savings and enabling employees to enjoy business trips by taking care of their travel and accommodation. Further, they must be well-versed with technology to run and use travel management platforms like Paxes and streamline the traveling process for all.
Suggested Read: A Comprehensive Guide On How To Book Corporate Travel
Corporate Travel Manager FAQs
What are the roles of a corporate travel manager?
A travel manager calculates trip expenses, makes reservations, communicates updates, and creates reports. When scheduling various business trips for the employees, the travel manager abides by the travel policy of the company and pays for travel expenses. Monitoring and managing travel expenses are his main responsibilities.
What skills are required to be an efficient travel manager?
He must ensure the safety of the travelers at all points, curate cost-effective plans, and should have good negotiation skills to get the best rates.
How does being tech-friendly benefit the corporate travel manager?
The management must use ERP systems and other widely used platforms to generate crucial trip data for each employee. Therefore, they must be tech-savvy.
Is effective communication of corporate travel policy important?
Yes, effective communication of corporate travel ensures that the employees are well aware of their responsibilities, such as being cost-effective without lowering their enthusiasm.
