How a Travel Manager Can Leverage Technology for Streamlined Travel

Corporate travel is an essential part of growth for every business. The hospitality industry is booming, with work-related trips comprising a massive $788 billion chunk of this market.

With such a massive pie involved, it’s not surprising that startups and long-term tech companies want to help you manage your travel needs. If you can weed through the mountain of options out there and find the right tools, these platforms can significantly make traveling easier for you, your budget, and your staff.

Which software programs are right for your business? Keep reading to see how you can streamline your travel management role with these tips.

1. Book Online

No matter the size of your business, online booking platforms are a simple way to compare rates and save your information for smoother future reservations.

Instead of controlling all of the individual arrangements, you can use a booking platform to set up staff accounts. Employees can log into their portals and make their travel plans using the linked company card to pay — provided the trip meets the rules you’ve established. Those plans are sent to your dashboard for you to finalize and send to the accounting team or software.

With these tools, there’s no need for overwhelming mass search results anymore. Online platforms let you filter down your preferences, such as hotels versus motels or nonstop flights. Save time and reduce costs by comparing rates on similar travel essentials instantly.

Take a few seconds upfront to enter your loyalty program numbers and other rewards info and assign it to every account under yours. Once you’ve put it in the system, you’ll automatically gain points for every booking, even if your employees make the reservation!

2. Get Comfortable With AI

With all the controversy over ChatGPT and similar artificial intelligence (AI) software, many people are nervous about entering their personal information online. As long as your firewalls and security software is up-to-date, you can leverage AI to reduce travel obstacles while staying secure.

For instance, AI often stores and records your search history, but this isn’t to “track” you. It’s a way of trying to make life easier by getting to know your preferences to increase the accuracy of future searches.

AI can make recommendations based on what it “knows” about you. Regarding corporate travel, this feature personalizes the travel experience for every worker. As the individual uses their browser, the machine recognizes things like budget, preferred travel destinations, family-friendliness, and other likes and dislikes. Then, it adjusts each search’s results to consider those preferences.

Using AI can also help you predict potential obstacles during a trip. With the right program, your phone will warn you if you should be concerned about any serious weather while you’re heading to or at your destination or if anything else could disrupt the trip.

3. Leverage the Cloud

If your business isn’t “in the cloud” yet, you’re missing out. Cloud technology has existed for over two decades, and its advantages keep improving.

Businesses using cloud technology save money on storage space and decreased costs of use. Bringing this into your travel management sector allows everyone to have centralized access to necessary data, with restrictions if applicable.

Data can’t be altered or accessed without the right permissions, but while your workers are on the road, they may need information about their client or itinerary. Having that info on the cloud gives them real-time access from a single point.

Putting your company’s data in the cloud also enhances your security. Cloud-based SaaS platforms designed for protecting travel data provide you with data encryption and other measures with minimal costs or maintenance. You can still back up your data if it helps you feel safer, but when everything is cloud-based, there are multiple fail safes to keep the servers running smoothly.

Gone is the hassle of saving hard copies of travel receipts and expense reports for years. Simply scan and store each item, label it correctly to locate it easily later, and shred the paper!

Conclusion

Designing a travel plan for your business includes countless moving parts. These are all interconnected, and without technology, the whole process gets complicated. But once you start implementing tech into each part of the workflow, you can streamline every trip and put your focus and energy into other things!