A Concise Guide To Organizing Executive Business Travel
by Arnab Dey Business Published on: 27 June 2023 Last Updated on: 24 May 2024
Travel planning is a vital aspect of any modern business.
With more corporations turning towards large-scale deals across multiple continents, the international scope is more critical than ever before. To ensure a smooth journey and an even better outcome, it’s crucial to understand the steps involved in careful and successful corporate travel planning.
Why is travel planning so important?
Corporate travel allows your business to network with partners, competitors, and clients across the globe. Through suitable and timely transport arrangements, company executives and CEOs can ensure efficiency across every purpose of the visit.
No matter the length or reason for travel, you should always consider safety and comfort as a priority. With U.S. business travel spending exceeding 120 billion dollars, your approach needs to be as sustainable for your business as it is for your staff.
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First steps: What does your team need?
Before booking travel and accommodation, you’ll need to consider specific needs within your business. No matter the individual requirements across your team, it’s your responsibility to cater for these. If catering is involved onboard, make sure you check for any allergies or dietary requirements.
Not all transport companies provide complimentary Wi-Fi, so it’s essential to check this beforehand. Before your colleagues depart, make sure you’re aware of their current workload and schedule. If they have outstanding tasks, make sure that your team can access adequate facilities for their work.
How to optimize travel arrangements
When it comes to arranging transport, you’ll need to think about the journey from the starting point until the end destination – and every caveat between. If your directors need to attend critical conferences, efficiency is even more important.
You should consider faster options where the budget allows. For example, choosing to charter private jets is guaranteed to make international travel more streamlined. Your team might not always need private flights, but these can be invaluable to meeting high-pressure deadlines, securing new deals, and reaching a wider client base.
Of course, this might be an immense workload for your team. Business travel can be managed by an external agency – and if your company budget allows, outsourcing might even be the most sensible approach. But you can only guarantee the highest quality arrangements for your team if you oversee the process.
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Supporting your team on the move
Travel arrangements don’t end with booking the tickets and handing them out to your team. You’ll need to provide support for company executives while they’re on the move, making sure that they arrive safely and on time.
Transfers are vital too. While your staff might be able to use public transport networks, arranging private transfers directly from the airport to the hotel or venue will optimize the entire process and reduce the risk of anything going wrong. In addition, timely and reliable communication means will be essential throughout any business trip.
Sticking to budget
With intercontinental demands on your schedule, it can be difficult to avoid exceeding the company travel budget. While you should try not to overspend, it’s still important not to stretch this area too thin. Your budget should cover transport and accommodation of sufficient standards, rather than choosing cheaper or less reliable arrangements that could jeopardize plans.
Always aim to find the best possible travel solution within your budget. This could mean reaching a compromise: still ensuring safe private flights for your directors, for example, but choosing rooms with reasonable rates in the hotel rather than an executive suite.
Overview
After individual employee needs are accounted for, the most crucial aspect of business travel planning is efficiency. Within your means, try to ensure that the visit takes only as much time as it needs to – and that your colleagues can reach their location as conveniently as possible.
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