One Way to Reduce the Stress of Travel Management

According to our new Global Business Travel Survey, the challenge of being a travel manager in today’s constantly evolving travel environment is more of a struggle than ever. 

To put a finer point on it: 55% of global travel managers said that this year is already as or more stressful than the last. And 100% of them – that’s every darn one of them, if you’re counting – admitted that they expect the next 12 months to be even worse.  

Travel managers’ sentiment is not surprising, given the disruptions plaguing the travel industry and the rising costs of just about everything. In fact, the most dominant concern among the 700 travel managers surveyed across seven markets is the rising price of oil and inflation in general. A related point, of course, is concern about shrinking budgets. In between are fears of exposing travelers to COVID, efforts to build sustainability into their travel programs, and the challenge of providing travelers the flexibility they now demand.  

If that wasn’t enough, travel managers are also facing pressure to manage an increasing number of expense reports, navigate their way through staffing changes, take care of travelers in smaller markets, and do even more with even less while proving the ROI of their efforts.  

So yes, it’s an interesting time for travel managers.  

Well then, what are they (and you!) supposed to do about it? Our report highlights an unexpectedly simple answer: Capture every booking detail. As you can imagine, when you know where people are headed, how they’re getting there, what they’re spending, where they’re staying, and so forth, it’s far easier to control their costs, do your duty of care, and prove the value of your company’s investment in travel itself.  

But when people book outside of your system, you don’t know who’s going where or what it costs. It comes down to the old adage: You can’t control what you can’t see.  

Seeing every booking, therefore, is at least one of the keys to simplifying and de-stressing your job. And also, according to the report, companies in the best position to overcome these and other travel barriers are those who can count on their booking tools to quickly adapt to policy changes and traveler demands. 

In other words, travel managers can make their jobs manageable by capturing every booking and itinerary detail – regardless of whether a traveler used their corporate booking tool or made reservations directly with a supplier.  

If you’re worried about whether that’s possible, the answer is “Yes!” The tools exist to easily collect travel details from both inside and outside your system, putting you in control of everything from costs to COVID fears to keeping up with sustainability goals.  

And you can find them at concur.com.hk/travel-expense.