What Travel Managers Should Do During a Pandemic?

There’s no denying that 2020 has been a tumultuous year and travel has been one of the industries affected most greatly. For many companies, this has resulted in questioning the necessity of the Travel Manager role. After all, what is a Travel Manager to do if business travel is running on low volume?

While redundancies have been an inevitable part of the pandemic, Travel Managers can still add value while travel is on hold. If your company is in a position to keep the Travel Manager position, here are 5 things they can be doing to optimize your travel processes ready for when things return to normal.

1. Review internal procedures and technology

So many things get pushed aside when we are busy and caught up in day-to-day activities. With a little extra time on their hands, Travel Managers have the perfect opportunity to review internal procedures and ensure technology is optimized for travel purposes. A solution like SoldoutNight can help Travel Managers to stay organized and to negotiate for better hotel rates while travel is on freeze. Travel Managers should be reviewing their current travel management solutions, identifying opportunities for improvement, and planning how to implement upgrades before travel resets to higher volume.

2. Implement an all-in-one system

If you have been putting off getting an all-in-one system because of the hassle, now is the time to get serious about the implementation of a new software. SoldoutNight helps startups and small businesses to manage travel properly. Easy to use and web based with multi-channel customer support. There’s no downside to having everything easily accessible in one place!

3. Update travel policy

Another task that seems to get lost among never ending to-do lists, updating your company travel policy should become a priority during this period of no travel. Things will ramp up again shortly so it’s important to have everything ready to go when it does. Make sure your company travel policy is clear, relevant and updated according to business travel requirements during Covid-19.

4. Consider virtual corporate cards

The implementation of any new system is likely to be accompanied by some hiccups, so what better time to try something new than during this lull? Consider introducing virtual corporate cards to assist with the management of business travel. This technology allows employees to pay for travel using their mobile wallet, a perfect contactless option. Some virtual corporate cards can even be integrated with expense software.

5. Make the most of your data

Data is super valuable in helping Travel Managers make decisions and alter policies regarding business travel. Unfortunately, data collection and analysis is often time-consuming and therefore it sometimes get pushed down the list of priorities. With a little extra time on their hands, there is no better opportunity than now for Travel Managers to review your business travel data and use it for future planning!While the business travel industry has been significantly impacted by the global pandemic, things will return to normal. Especially thanks to vaccines. When this happens, it is important that companies are prepared and optimized to manage business travel in the Covid-19 era.