Travel Manager Strategies for the New Normal

There seems to be a consensus that the pandemic changed business travel forever. Many say it will come back but will never be as big of an industry as it was pre-pandemic. I would concur that the pandemic accelerated many changes that were already taking place, but I think the travel industry and flying specifically will continue to grow and will be bigger than ever. 

It will become common for small to midsize companies to have staff working from different locations around the world.  Incentive and team building trips will be more important than ever, giving a major boost to this type of travel. Additionally, the line between business and personal travel will continue to blur. This presents a whole new set of challenges to the people responsible for managing business travel: be it corporate travel managers, travel agents or executive assistants. This new travel landscape calls for a re-evaluation of how one approaches travel management.

Below are my suggestions for strategies to consider to prepare for the new normal of business travel.

Design the policy to optimize for value and not for only for the lowest price

Design a policy that requires the lowest price with reasonable travel time, then build in a 10-20% margin within which the traveller can choose their preferred itinerary.  It will give your travelers discretion to give preference to a particular airline or alliance to build status with which may significantly improve their travel experience over time and make them more productive on the road. The free baggage, preferred seat assignments and priority status they get at check-in, security and boarding lines are well worth the difference. Allowing for this margin simplifies the selection and booking process by empowering travelers to make the decisions, thus reducing the administration costs.

Plan ahead and anticipate future trips with a wide brush

The elimination of change fees on most domestic and much of international travel calls for rethinking of the travel planning process.  As there are no penalties for changes, it is no longer necessary to wait until firm dates are set or buy more expensive refundable fares.  You can now lock in possible dates at best prices the moment the trip is on the horizon and keep tweaking as changes happen.  Even if you need to cancel the trip, the credit can always be used for other trips or future dates. When you do make changes, you have to pay a fare difference if any, but if you got it right the first time, you have the opportunity to secure the best flight, at the best fare and the best seat assignment.

For travelers based out of international air-hub fortress cities, apply a homebase stopover strategy to combine multiple international trips into one ticket

We have been recommending and implementing the Home Base Stopover Strategy for our clients with international offices for decades.  Some of the prime examples of hub fortress markets where this trip management technique yields significant savings are London, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Istanbul, Madrid, Dubai, Moscow, Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo.  Cities in the US and Canada used to be on the list at one time, but lately Open skies agreements made this market more competitive, and therefore this strategy no longer provides much in the way of savings for US/Canadian Hubs.

What air-hub fortress cities have in common is that they are dominated by one or two major airlines which keep local fares artificially high.  Since the airline still has to compete in markets that are not  their hub, their pricing outside their hub is much more competitive.  The strategy involves tying 2 or more trips to different destinations into one ticket, always making home base a stopover point.  It is not uncommon to see savings up to 70% on premium class airfares this way.  

Consider the  example of London. Let’s say you have travelers based in London who make frequent trips to both India and the US. You can buy her a one way ticket to India and then always issue her tickets as India to the US with a stopover in London, covering both trips in one itinerary.  Most business class fares out of India on British Airways or Virgin allow changes with little to no change fee.  A free stopover in London in both directions is allowed, so is the change of dates and the change of final destination city.  So if your head office is in New York, the traveler is based out of London and you have an office in Bangalore that she regularly visits - you would always issue flexible or semi-flexible tickets from Bangalore to NY and have her stopover in London for weeks or months at a time.  If she needs to go to Boston instead of NY or Mumbai instead of Bangalore that is also allowed.  If you do not know the dates for the trip, you can choose the most probable date and change it when you know the exact date. The tickets are generally valid for one year so you have time to use all legs of the ticket.  

A typical ticket with less than 14 days advance purchase from London to Bangalore is about $7,000. Roundtrip business class tickets from London to New York can be as much as $8,000. Roundtrip tickets from Bangalore to NY with a free stopover in London and no change fees is about $6000.  So the right planning would allow you to bring your travel bill from $15,000 to $6,000 by combining 2 trips. That is over 60 percent in savings.  The traveler still gets all the travel perks, miles and status.  Non-hub tickets are generally more flexible than hub originating tickets, so the traveler would get more flexibility than she would have with the $15,000 ticket.  If you are enrolled in a Corporate mileage plan, you would accrue those points as well.  Some proactive planning on the part of the traveler and the travel manager is required when employing this strategy.  Perhaps you can compromise by upgrading travelers' flights or hotels, to keep them happy while still coming in well under budget.  

Given the new remote work normal, you may now have travelers permanently based in different cities around the globe. It is likely that some of these major hub markets may be the closest major airport.  This sort of planning may be well worth the effort.

Consider booking business trip as bundled packages

We associate packages with vacation and leisure because they are marketed this way.  However, there is nothing stopping you from combining your flight and hotel for a business trip into a package as well. The savings are just as good or better! If you have a trusted travel agent, they will likely find the best options for you for each trip. If you don’t, check out the air/hotel and air/hotel/car pricing on the “Vacation” brand of your preferred airline. Think Delta Vacations, American Airlines Vacations, United Vacations, etc.  You can choose your preferred airlines and hotels and obtain bundled pricing right on their website. The same applies to international airlines.  For international premium class travel, it is quite common to see the bundled vacation price to be lower than the flight alone purchased on the airline website.  You will be able to take the same flight and stay in the same hotel potentially for a lot less. Travelers still get their miles, but they receive fewer miles than if they purchased full price tickets and hotels.  I suggest using some of the savings obtained to reward your travelers and get them excited about the savings too.

Take a closer look for value on hotel stays. Partner with an agency with a variety of hotel programs or partnership with an amenity consortium

If your company is not big enough to command major hotel discounts, consider partnering with the travel agent who can offer you a range of amenity programs when they book hotel stays.

Booking luxury hotels (like Ritz Carlton) with amenities sometimes presents better value than booking cheaper full service business hotels (like a Marriott). Almost every major hotel group offers a luxury brand amenity program for their preferred agencies. Marriott offers Ritz stars and Luminous, Hilton/Waldorf offers Impresario, Hyatt offers Privé and so on. You could book the room for $200 with Marriott, but if your agent part of the program, you could book a $300 room at Ritz Carlton and get a room upgrade, early check in and late check out, free breakfast for up to 2 people and $100 credit which could be used on food and beverage or in-house parking (benefits may differ between properties).  In that case, a one or two night stay at a Ritz Carlton with amenities is actually a better value than the same stay at a Marriott. Suggest to your traveler to consider doing her breakfast and/or dinner meetings at the hotel’s restaurant to take advantage of those credits.  You could actually have your traveler stay at a 5 star luxury property with top notch amenities and service and not spend more overall than they would have at a regular full service business brand. There are also amenity programs that are not tied to specific hotel groups offered by American Express, Virtuoso, Signature and Travel Leaders affiliated agencies.

Maximize the value of a corporate mileage plan but don’t be fooled by their perceived value

Small business mileage plans are something most companies should have for the airlines they book for their travelers . My advice would be to enroll in all of the relevant ones, but do not let any one of them influence your booking decisions. The benefits of those programs are marginal.  In most cases, they would translate into 1-5 percent rebate in a form that you can use for free travel. These programs are designed to give people a reason to book their product even when their offering does not represent the best value by making them appear more valuable than they actually are. Keep your eyes on the prize of getting the best prices with the best schedules/amenities and don’t let business mileage points clutter your purchasing decision. Enroll in them all, add them to your trips, and simply check-in on them from time to time.  Once you accrue something of value, which may take a while , you could share it with your travelers to keep them happy and let them know they are part of a team. 

Maximize credit card points

Ensuring you are using the right credit card to book your travel may actually yield higher returns than paying attention to corporate mileage plans. I would skip the corporate cards and suggest dedicating a premium personal card for booking travel. Citi Prestige is by far the best card right now for booking business travel, although Chase Sapphire Reserve and Amex Platinum may also make sense for some companies.  See WikiMiles’ review of these 3 cards for a more in-depth comparison. Citi Prestige rebates 5 percent of your spending back by way of cash or points for any airline ticket, online or brick and mortar travel agency purchase and dining. Amex also gives 5 percent back, but their cash conversion is subpar and they only give you 5 percent for air tickets. With Citi, you get 5 percent back even if you book through Expedia, Orbitz, Delta Vacations, United Vacations, etc. Citi also gives you 3 percent back on hotels and Airbnb (if a hotel is booked and prepaid through a travel agent like Expedia.com or hotels.com you get 5 percent back). Although primarily intended for personal use, Citi Prestige is well suited for your company’s business travel purchases as it allows you to add authorized users and issue unlimited virtual account numbers for different merchants. I would suggest having your travelers add the card to their Apple or Google wallet for relevant expenses so there is no risk of losing the physical card or having the number compromised by a merchant. One drawback of this card is that all authorized users use the same MasterCard number so if one person loses the card or gets compromised everyone’s number will change.  Using digital wallet apps and virtual card numbers whenever possible minimizes the chances of that happening.

Allow for flexible pricing to have your travelers combine business and leisure to everyone’s benefit

Better companies have been doing this for years and I think it is a very smart policy.  All you have to do is allow your travelers to add on their personal trip/time onto a business trip when they need to. If the price is not affected, then you have a happy traveler at no cost to you. If the price is higher, let the traveler reimburse the company for the difference. If the price is lower than it is good all around. The policy should not cost you anything, it may even deliver you savings, while keeping your travelers happy. It is marginally more complicated to manage, but if you plan for it and design a policy for it, it is definitely doable. Consider allowing your traveler to stay the week at an international destination. They could fly their family out at the end of their business trip. Oftentimes, a longer stay makes them eligible for significantly lower airfare. Most luxury hotels have 4th night free promos and your traveler will appreciate the perks!

Ensure that your travelers are using all the right apps and tools to stay safe, connected and productive on the road

The best managers don’t just manage travel, they manage the travelers too. Educating your travelers on the best innovations and apps to keep them traveling well can mean fewer missed flights, meetings and the additional costs connected to all this.  Those apps keep travelers reachable and connected to the office.  It may give them, their families and their employers peace of mind about their personal safety.  Smooth travel will reduce stress and burnout.  Check out our recommendation for Apps Every Traveler Should Have on Their Phone.

Find the right travel agent!

Whether you are a traveler, travel manager, or an executive assistant - finding the right travel agent can make a world of difference.  Look for an agent/agency who is experienced and knowledgeable in business travel, provides responsive and efficient service, has access to the right mix of airline and hotel contracts, shares your values on prudent management and has their team available to you around the clock for emergency assistance. Travel agents can provide extensive reporting on your company travel spending, help design and tweak travel policies, and troubleshoot travel issues.  Make the travel agent a member of your team when making travel decisions.  Travel agents do charge fees which are generally well worth it considering the savings a good travel agent can deliver.

Keep your travelers engaged and happy!

Involve your travelers when designing your travel policy. Keep open lines of communication with your travelers and ear to the ground for the changing winds as you won’t always find out what you need to know from the travel suppliers. Create a reward fund for your travelers from the points banked on your credit cards and a corporate mileage plan to ensure everyone is on-board with smart travel strategies.