Major Challenges Faced by Travel Managers and How To Overcome Them

The demands of corporate travelers are becoming more challenging day by day and for some travel managers, the travel costs are rising. There is also stiff competition from local travel agencies that provide a variety of attractive services online for consumers. So, the role of a travel manager is constantly changing and has become very complex.

Here, we present some major challenges faced by the travel managers today and how they can overcome it.

Cost Cutting on Business Travel Expenses

As a means of cost cutting for the business, organizations are shrinking budgets, yet travel needs of businesses are unchanging. Also, the cost of travel is increasing exponentially year over year. Travel managers find it very challenging to secure savings on total trip costs and meet budget expectations.

They can maximize their savings by looking at costs holistically and gaining greater transparency on costs. But this task can be difficult if travel managers fail to use travel management tools or automated payment solutions.

Competition from Online Travel Agencies

Many corporate travelers are feeling empowered and opting to be their own travel managers due to the influx of online travel agencies. With the availability of today’s wide range of services, travelers can dodge company plans and travel packages, and carry tourism services in their own pocket provided by the agencies.

This can be a major problem, if travel managers are not acquainted with the current trends. They need to thoroughly study the services provided by their competitor agencies and come up with comparable travel packages for their employees to increase the total trip savings for the business.

Employee Safety and Well-Being

In case of emergency, travelers expect to have the ability to communicate with their organization as soon as possible. But many travel managers are still unaware of the time it takes to approve each and every employee’s safety in any event.

With the help of a dynamic travel support system, you can reach out to travelers within short notice and start a two-way conversation through email, SMS, or voice call. Sending pre-trip reports and incident analysis can also keep travelers up to date about any unsafe situations.

Battle to Ensure Travel Program Compliance

The travel program compliance has always remained one of the major struggles that travel managers have to encounter. An out of policy booking effects reporting and increases the traveler’s risk.

It is crucial for an employer to know the whereabouts of the traveler at all times for safety purposes and about the bookings are made with hotels and airlines, as it is not possible for the travel management companies to provide the whereabouts of the traveler.

Clearly mention and explain the importance of travel policy to the travelers and why they should be abided by. Many times policies are not followed due to lack of knowledge and understanding of the policy.

The Bottom Line

It has become mandatory for travel managers to stay abreast of technology developments and trends and need to bridge the gap of knowledge with corporate travelers. Having the right travel and expense management tools to tackle the challenges posed can facilitate to deliver more important value to the company.