What is a travel manager and what does he do?

The travel manager is the one that deals with the organization of business travel inside a company.

It is found mainly in large companies that travel a lot, because of the important costs to be managed. However, in small companies it is usually a role taken by the management or human resources.

What does the travel manager do?

The travel manager must be able to organize business trips while keeping track of the company’s expenses. The travel manager has to be able to organize business travel while keeping track of company expenses:

  1. Organizing business travel  

The main task of a travel manager is to organize business travel, making sure that the worker arrives at his destination and everything is prepared to welcome him on his trip.  This means that the travel manager, if he or she does not have a travel agency or a travel management platform of reference, must take care of booking (or supervising the worker, who will do so independently) the hotel, flight and any transportation and all the documentation that comes with it.

  1. Travel policy 

The travel manager has the task of drawing up the travel policy (we talk about it here), making sure it is followed and constantly updated. It is therefore important to collect feedback from travelers to keep the travel policy continuously updated and ensure that it is followed without misunderstandings. In addition to the travel policy, the travel manager is also responsible for the development of the risk plan (travel risk management policy, we talk about it here) 

3. Traveler support

The travel manager’s duties also include dealing with any problems travelers may encounter, acting as an intermediary between the two parties.

  1. Budget and report  

The travel manager is in charge of managing expenses and travel organization, but also the search for agreements to have a better quality and price in services, whether with suppliers or travel agencies. As far as expenses and reporting are concerned, his tasks also include calculating the ROI of all workers’ trips.

  1. Bureaucracy  

The travel manager is responsible for overseeing all business travel and checking that all necessary documents are in order legally and administratively.

  1. Organize customer visits

The travel manager’s duties also include organizing dinners or any visits by clients.

What skills should a travel manager have?  

  • Good organizational skills
  • Good dialogue skills
  • Good negotiation skills 
  • Good knowledge of the travel industry, especially the business travel sector
  • Skills in economics and business administration 
  • Good knowledge of travel industry software
  • Technical and professional skills

Why is a travel manager important?

Corporate travel expenses are one of the biggest costs within a company, having a figure who constantly monitors these expenses can help the company to have a big savings. Also, having a predetermined figure in charge of organizing travel will avoid overloading departments.

Difference between travel manager and mobility manager  

Often the positions of travel manager and mobility manager are confused with each other, or it is not clear what the difference is. As we have already mentioned, the travel manager is responsible for the organization of business trips, both domestic and international, the mobility manager, which can be corporate or area, however, is, in italy, the one who is responsible for drawing up the plan of home-work trips (PSCL) of employees of his company with the aim of reducing the use of individual transport and organize schedules to limit traffic blocks. The figure of the mobility manager was introduced in 1997 when the Kyoto pact for the reduction of polluting emissions was signed.

Due to the pandemic, the subsequent introduction of smart working by many companies and the attempt to reduce the circle during peak hours to avoid traffic peaks, this position has become mandatory for companies and public administrations, with more than 100 employees per local unit located in a regional capital, a provincial capital, metropolitan cities or municipalities with a population of more than 50,000 (per the decree of May 12, 2021).

The PSCL must be submitted by December 31 of each year and in addition to helping to improve air quality, it also allows the company to reduce costs and travel. The tasks of the mobility manager are to analyze the demand for mobility among employees, perform an analysis of transport supply, and identify possible strategies to encourage sustainable travel. All these tasks are obviously performed after a careful analysis of the territorial scenario.

How can BizAway help your travel manager?  

Using an automated travel management platform can make a travel manager’s job much easier and save your company money.  With BizAway, your travelers can book independently because the travel policy is directly set through the platform, setting approval flows, spending limits and many other rules. This is very advantageous also from the reimbursement side: with the automated booking the worker can make the reservation by himself through the platform using the company credit cards, this means that he won’t have to get any reimbursement (except for some extra expenses or mileage reimbursement) so the collection of the documentation will surely be a faster process than usual. You can have a cost saving of over 20% and a 24/7 support service. Moreover, thanks to the partnership with Riskline, even the travel risk management is under control! Inside the platform there is a dynamic map where you can see where your travelers are in real time and if they are in risky situations, they will automatically receive an alert.  

To sum it up

The travel manager is the figure within a company that has the task of organizing corporate travel, write the travel policy but also keep under control the costs of travel to allow savings to the company but at the same time comfort to the worker.