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Time-Saving Tips to Improve Productivity For Travel Managers

Feb 14, 2023

We’ve compiled a list of ways travel managers can improve productivity and plan efficient workforce travel.

Travel managers play an essential role in workforce travel. They oversee and coordinate all aspects of crew travel, including negotiating and booking group lodging rates, arranging transportation, and managing the travel budget.

Between their busy to-do lists and strict project timelines, travel managers are always looking for innovative ways to complete their tasks. We’ve compiled a list of ways travel managers can improve productivity and plan efficient workforce travel.

What Do Travel Managers Do When Booking Workforce Travel Arrangements?

Travel managers have a long list of items to manage when planning workforce travel. The following duties are just some of the responsibilities they must carry out before, during, and after booking workforce travel.

1. Communicate Travel Procedures

When working in an industry that requires frequent travel like construction or mining, it’s vital that every company has a travel policy in place. It’s the travel manager's responsibility to (a) develop one with your management team and (b) communicate it with the travelers.

2. Negotiate Rates

Travel managers must also consider the transportation services their crew needs. They’ll have to compare rates across travel vendors such as airlines, rental car companies, and, most importantly, hotels and lodges.

They might ask themselves: Does my company have contracts with certain travel suppliers? If not, would it be fiscally beneficial to arrange one? If work crews travel often and stay in the same hotel or lodging chain, it might be worth arranging a partnership.

3. Book & Coordinate Travel Arrangements

After finding lodging and transportation that best accommodates the crew’s needs and the company’s budgetary restrictions, it’s time to book the arrangements. This includes coordinating lodging, flights, and ground transportation, then communicating that information with the travelers.

If the work crew needs large equipment for the project, travel managers must also arrange plans to deliver it to the site. They may need to work with the project manager to decide if it makes sense to deliver company equipment to the site or if it costs the same to rent the items they’ll need from a local rental service.

If equipment is required, the travel manager must ensure their lodging includes parking amenities. Some hotels or lodges may require the crews to pay an extra fee, so the travel manager should leave some room in the budget to account for the cost.

5. Provide Support to Crew Members

Leading up to a project, travel managers are responsible for providing support for crew members, answering their questions, accommodating specific requests, and delivering pertinent information regarding travel times and updates.

Even after travel is booked, they have a Duty of Care to protect travelers from any harm. Travel managers must still be available to provide support and communication during an emergency or any changes to the travel schedule.

6. Organize Reports

After work travel is complete, the final role of the travel manager is to analyze total spending and put together a report for other members of the organization. By doing so, they can analyze trends in their spending habits, take note of items that are eating most of the budget, and strategize ways to minimize those costs in the future.

Three Ways Travel Managers Can Increase Efficiency

There are many ways that travel managers can increase their productivity. Using these three tips, travel managers can find greater project efficiency.

1. Streamline Reporting

Simplify reporting after project travel using a program that condenses the crew’s financial reports. Travel managers can receive fewer invoices and increase their access to analytics and data using a travel management system.

Fewer reports mean less time sorting through costs, simplifying payment and reconciliation. Plus, it makes planning for future workforce travel easier by providing an itemized breakdown of the crew's activity by project, day, hotel, and room bookings.

2. Minimize Paperwork & Guesswork

Keep crew travelers, project managers, and subcontractors on the same page by centralizing project planning. Using Payment IDs and Tracking Codes, travel managers can give the team and others working on the same project the ability to make their own reservations as needed.

This helps travel managers reduce the time spent on day-to-day logistics and gives crews some autonomy to book their own accommodations. Using innovative travel technology, travel managers can set spending limits, so they don’t have to worry about crew members overspending when booking reservations on their own.

Be less reliant on manual processes. Store all of the project’s booking data, including room spend, crew lists, preferred properties, Payment IDs, and Tracking Codes online. Not only does this reduce paper waste, but it also reduces the time they’ll spend searching for documents in the future.

3. Use Travel Management Technology Like LodgeLink

LodgeLink is an end-to-end travel management tool that makes booking crew travel efficient. From booking to reporting, our technology is designed around the specific needs of crews and the travel managers responsible for planning workforce travel.

They don’t have to worry about negotiating with the hotel or lodge for the best price. We do that for them. We have partnerships with a range of hotels and lodges across the US and Canada that we’ve already negotiated rates with, saving companies time and money.

Search for housing with the proper accommodations using comprehensive search features like after-hour meal services or large vehicle parking. Plus, find properties that allow booking flexibility.

Last-minute changes happen often. Booking directly through a hotel may limit the crew's ability to book an additional room or to receive a refund if a room is no longer needed.