Are you returning to travel?
Egencia has you covered every step of the way. Use the resources on this page to make sure you’re aware and prepared as your travelers return to the road. Before diving in, check out which industries are traveling, where they’re traveling and what practices have changed with the business travel trend tracker.
Learn the fundamentals of managing business travel
If managing travel isn’t your priority and you’re short on time, here are the essentials to know as your travelers get back on the road:
- Checklist: Return to travel. Now that your travelers are getting back on the road, we’ve compiled a checklist with five steps that you can take to be proactive and prepared. Also, share this quick refresher with your travelers on booking travel with Egencia.
- Egencia Travel Advisor. In this new era of travel, situations are constantly evolving — often at a rapid rate. Egencia has responded by launching a new capability within the booking tool: Egencia Travel Advisor delivers current information on travel advisories and health guidelines regarding COVID-19, based on the locations within an individual traveller’s itinerary.
- Relaunch your travel program. A travel program relaunch is a great way to remind users how to book business travel on Egencia and boost program adoption. Follow this step-by-step guide to make sure you cover every angle.
Take your expertise to the next level. Scroll down for more advanced resources on returning to travel.
Step 1: Prepare for – and step into - the evolving role of travel manager
Business travel has radically changed this year and, along with it, the role of the travel manager. With risk and spend management high on the business agenda, the c-suite is paying attention to travel in a whole new way.
Here are some ways you can prepare and educate yourself for this new direction:
- Identify new key stakeholders and show up stronger as a business travel manager
- Join the webinar series with Egencia execs, along with supply and industry partners
- Engage with your peers on best practices for returning to travel on Egencia Connect Community
- Join Egencia’s Corporate Travel Management Training program for new and advanced skills in travel management.
Step 2: Become an expert at managing risk by leveraging your travel policy
The starting point for managing risk is defining your company’s new travel guidelines and implementing them into your travel policy by following these three steps:
- Align with your internal stakeholders regarding crucial decisions on travel
- Examine any external factors to vet destinations and suppliers so you can make informed decisions around return to travel
- Check travel advisories by country
- Check supplier health and safety practices
- Get more information on our supplier help center page
- Gain insights on industries & regions recovering to make informed decisions
- Implement your revised policy on the Egencia booking tool
Support travelers’ wellbeing and minimize risk
Egencia® Travel Advisor helps you optimize your duty of care strategies. You and your travelers simply need to log in to get
travel advisories for any type of crisis, whether it’s related to the pandemic, severe weather, or civil unrest.
Step 3: Help your travelers feel confident and comfortable
As eager as your employees are to see colleagues and customers face-to-face again, it’s likely they’re feeling apprehensive about getting back on the road too. One of your roles as travel manager is to make sure your travelers feel secure, comfortable, and cared for throughout the entire journey.
Dig into how Egencia can help your travelers when booking, when traveling, and beyond. Also, share this quick refresher with your travelers on booking travel with Egencia.
Step 4: Mitigate risk and control spend by mandating your TMC
Using several different travel partners or allowing travelers to book through various websites disperses your data and weakens your ability to mitigate risk and optimize savings. Mandating your travelers to book with Egencia will help you achieve four key objectives:
- Manage risk
- Increase leverage for supplier negotiations
- Conveniently optimize savings
- Manage unused tickets
Step 5: Track and optimize your travel program
As we all know, the ins and outs of everyday life are very fluid at the moment, and they’re likely to be so for the foreseeable future. This makes it more important than ever to stay on top of your travel program’s performance, the impact of global events on travel, and the specific needs of your company as it relates to your travel program.
Learn more about these four steps:
- Leveraging the suite of Egencia risk management tools
- Creating a feedback loop
- Sharing and learning best practices around COVID-19
- Accessing COVID-19 specific reporting
Help get the word out about Egencia
Need to re-educate your leadership team and internal stakeholders about everything Egencia can do for your organization? Learn more about the tools Egencia has to help.