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Breaking Down Workforce Travel: What Makes Crew Travel So Unique

Jan 22, 2024

Corporate travel and crew travel. Ever wonder what the distinction is between the two?

At a Glance: What is Corporate Travel?

Over 95% of business professionals assert face-to-face meetings are crucial to maintaining successful long-term business relationships.

Therefore, traditional corporate travellers must head to major urban areas to meet other business professionals where they are.

They don’t typically have issues finding hotel accommodations or air and ground transportation since many of the major cities they are travelling to have these types of services and infrastructure already in place.

Additionally, corporate workers only have to travel a few times a month. When they do, they are likely to travel solo and stay for shorter durations.

On the billing side, internal accounting will often allocate the costs for corporate travellers to a general travel cost centre.

At a Glance: What is Crew Travel?

The crew travel industry is primarily made up of travelling tradespeople.

Whether they work in construction, the energy sector, emergency services, utilities, or transportation, these workers are often travelling to a worksite for weeks or months at a time.

Unlike corporate travellers, crews are often heading to secondary or tertiary markets and to working on projects where daily commutes are unrealistic and accommodations and transportation are not readily available.

Additionally, crew travellers have unique schedules that require them to work for weeks at a time, travel in large groups and work hours outside of the typical 9-5 workday.

These nuances can complicate in-office procedures like capturing their budgets, cost tracking and scheduling.

1. Purpose & Personnel

The purposes of corporate and crew travel are vastly different. Where business travellers are focused on business development and networking, work crews are travelling for specific capital projects.

With that said, the number of travellers for each is going to be different.

Companies may only send one or two people away for a corporate event, but a crew travel assignment will likely require a minimum of five to up to 50 people and more.

Additionally, it’s not uncommon for work crews to outsource some of their team members, so their personnel might include a mix of workers from different freelance or contracting companies.

2. Travel Location

Each type of travel’s purpose will directly impact the locations they will travel to. Since corporate travellers are interested in meeting face-to-face to build new business relationships, they have to travel to thriving metropolitan markets.

Work crews, on the other hand, are responsible for building critical infrastructure in places where these services are currently lacking. This means they’re travelling to less populated areas where markets are emerging.

4. Accommodations

The longer length of stay for crew workers requires some unique lodging solutions. For starters, the hotel or lodge must include some form of extended stay agreement since they’ll need housing that lasts the full duration of their project.

With that said, there’s a greater need to find crew housing with amenities like kitchenettes, quiet hours and truck parking — perks that don’t need to be considered for corporate workers staying just a few nights.

5. Oversight/Expense Management

In general, corporate travel is organized internally or by a trusted travel management company, so travellers have very little input in their arrangements. Their travel policies make clear what qualifies as per diem and what does not to keep expenses tracking manageable.

The same is true for crew travel, but oversight can vary when freelancers or contractors are involved. For instance, freelancers might be responsible for finding their own accommodations.

While this might give crew travellers increased flexibility and autonomy in managing their bookings, it can also complicate expense tracking and the reimbursement process.

DEMOGRAPHIC CRITERIA	CORPORATE TRAVEL	CREW TRAVEL
Travel Personnel	Corporate employee	Workforce crews, tradespeople
Travel Purpose	Meetings, conferences, networking events	Work on projects where daily commutes are unrealistic
Number of Travellers	1-2 people	5-50 people
Travel Location	Major urban areas	Secondary/tertiary markets
Length of Stay	1-2 nights	5-45 nights, often with days on/off
Travel Frequency	1-5 days per month	15-20 days per month
Accommodations	General hotel amenities	Crew-specific amenities
Oversight	Less flexibility, but greater financial visibility	Greater flexibility, but less financial visibility

Our end-to-end workforce travel solutions were designed specifically for crew travel. Find and book hotels and lodges, or even air and ground transportation, at a fair rate with access to our growing network of partners.

Plus, increase your back office efficiencies with simplified payment options that boost financial visibility and streamline invoicing.

Using LodgeLink’s travel technology and knowledgeable customer service team, your company can transform your crew travel program. Here’s how:

3. We Search and Negotiate for You

Save hours manually contacting potential properties to ask about extended-stay availability. Enter your project’s duration using our advanced search features to find a list of properties with the resources to accommodate your stay.

You’ll know you’re getting the best rates because of our pre-negotiated supplier agreements; our partner properties get 100% of the room rate revenue in exchange for offering the best booking rates for your crews.