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Making travel arrangements can be chaotic and complicated. Discover our stressfree guide to plan your travel arrangements with ease here.
In 3028, there were 1.4 billion international tourists.
If you or your employer is going to be traveling whether it’s for work or pleasure, there are certain things you can do to help make sure that the trip goes smoothly.
Making travel arrangements can be chaotic and complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. Check out our stress-free guide to planning your travel arrangements with ease.
Understand Their Preferences
If you’re booking the trip for someone else, you should make sure that you understand their preferences.
If you’ve made travel plans for your employer before, you may know some of their preferences while traveling. It may seem pretty basic, but it can make a world of difference for them.
If this is the first time you’re booking a trip for someone else, just ask them what their preferences may be.
Some examples of things you should find out include whether or not they like a window or an aisle seat. Do they have any meal restrictions if they’re going to be flying on a long flight?
Do they like to sit at the front of the back of the plane? Do they prefer to get to their destination with some spare time or right on time?
What kind of hotels do they like? Do they have any necessities that you should make sure are included in the accommodations?
Do they have a special travel agent that they prefer? What is their budget?
Once you know the answer to some of these questions, you’ll be able to make sure that they’re happy with all the traveling accommodations you booked for them.
Know How to Work With Travel Agents
You’ll also have to learn how to work with travel agents, including difficult ones.
Before you meet with the travel agent, make sure that you have the availability of the person you’re looking for. Know when all the meetings and events are and if there’s any flexibility with dates.
Ask the travel agent if there are any other earlier or later flights? Are there any cheaper ones? Finding a direct flight could also make it easier for your employer.
If there are no direct flights, ask which ones have the shortest layovers. You should also make sure that there will be Wi-Fi available at these airports or even on the planes.
Make Sure You Do Research
While a travel agent can be helpful, you should also make sure that you do your own research.
Your employer will most likely have preferences, but you should also do your own research to make sure that you are booking the correct things.
Read the reviews on all the car services, hotels, airlines, venues, and destinations before you decide to book something.
There are many sites out there that can help you do this, like Kayak, Expedia, and the actual websites of the hotels. Yelp and Google Reviews can also help you out.
By doing your research, you may also be able to find a cheaper option, which your employer will thank you for.
Make an Itinerary
Once you’ve started booking things and putting everything together, you should make an itinerary, so they know exactly where they need to be and what to expect.
It’s a very simple and easy way to give them an overview of what their trip will be like.
You should make sure things to include the dates, the times of the flights, the airline numbers, the gates (if you have them), and the names of the airports.
You should also make sure to include directions to get to and from their hotel to the airport. You may even want to include the names and phone numbers of the hotels they’ll be staying at.
To go the extra mile, you can also include the names of some good restaurants that will be nearby to where they’re staying. To help you create this itinerary, you can use this snipping tool for Mac to make it look professional and well put-together.
Confirm Everything the Day Before
Before they go on their trip, make sure that you confirm everything.
That means confirming that the flights are checked in and booked, the hotels are booked, and that the transportation is arranged.
You should have confirmation emails for all of these, and you should print them out and put them in the itinerary just in case they don’t have access to Wi-Fi or cellular data.
Keep Them Updated
Throughout the trip, make sure that you keep them updated as much as possible.
While they’re actually on the flight, it might be difficult. You should track the flights to see if there are any delays or changes. If you find these changes, you may be able to help them out and find another alternative.
There are all kinds of apps to help you track things like seat availability, baggage claim numbers, gate changes, and cancellations.
You will also want to update them on any meeting changes or possible weather changes.
You never know what’s going to happen on the trip, so you should be ready to have a Plan B for everything. Keeping your employer in the loop will also help them feel more calm knowing they’re in good hands.
Learn More About How to Make Travel Arrangements
These are only a few tips on how to make travel arrangements, but there are many more out there.
The bottom line is to make sure that you do your own research and double-check everything to make sure everything will run smoothly for the trip. If you enjoyed this article, make sure that you explore our website to find more just like this one