The Importance of Traveler Safety: How a Travel Management Company Can Help
Traveler Safety is Essential to keep employees safe. Companies must secure travel arrangements to fulfill their duties without incident.
While on travel for business, companies must use strategies for the safety and well-being of their employees.
What are the reasons to prioritize travel risk management?
Travel risk management is the responsibility of companies to protect their employees when they take business trips.
Here are the reasons for travel risk management.
Protect employees: Companies must protect the health and safety of their employees. Travel risk management helps businesses fulfill their duty of care commitments. Employers must provide their employees with guidance, service, and support when they travel.
Regulations: Companies need to follow safety guidelines while on business travel. If regulations are not followed, there can be serious consequences.
Reputation: It is necessary to protect the reputation and brand image of the company.
How a travel management company keeps corporate travelers safe
Identify travel risks
Work with a travel management company that understands the travel safety needs and goals of its clients. They will review the travel security processes and regulations of the company. This may include the duty of care, travel patterns, and risk management plans. Moreover, TMCs have a travel management software in place that alert employees about the risks.
The travel management company will do a gap analysis of the client. In this way, they will identify areas where the travel safety requirements need to get upgraded. They can also provide customer care to create a safe travel program. This is very crucial for corporate travel management.
The Corporate travel management company will customize a travel security plan that supports travel guidelines. They will provide training your employees on safe travel practices.
Sends travel alerts and warnings
A travel management company uses travel management software to track employees and send travel alerts. This helps the corporate traveler stay informed about travel disruptions. The software will provide updates on climate, such as hurricanes, snowstorms, or extreme heat. It will share updates on potential risks and track political and security situations.
The software will update on health alerts that could affect travel. Travel management software sends updates on flight delays, cancellations, or other disruptions that impact travel plans. This in turn, makes your corporate travel management process seamless.
Pre-travel management
Choose a travel management company that uses travel management software to serve business travelers. Such programs support issues like sudden changes in travel plans.
A travel itinerary created by your service provider should allow the freedom to amend reservations. Hence, an ideal travel management software can cancel or postpone reservations when needed. It can also reschedule or amend flight plans, train reservations, and hotel bookings.
The convenience of mobile app usage
Around 48% of U.S. mobile users prefer to plan and research their trips on their devices. The study confirms that travelers prefer digital travel services. A travel management company provides all travel-related information and updates.
A business traveler can easily use their device to access all travel arrangements on the go. A travel management app will track and share information on transportation choices besides providing 24/7 customer care.
Hotel-stay safety
In the case of hotel bookings, a travel management company is responsible for the safe stay of the corporate traveler.
It must verify the hotel’s security measures and guest well-being. The travel managers will stay connected with the hotel staff to ensure a smooth check-in, 24/7 service, emergency plans, check-out, etc.
Traveler route tracking measures
Choose a travel agency that provides a travel management app with route-tracking features. In this way, your employees can share their real-time locations with their loved ones.
These apps allow companies to monitor their employee journey remotely. Thus businesses can locate their staff in case of disasters, urgent situations, or worst-case scenarios.
Offers services that protect health
Since the pandemic, most service providers have been mindful of health and hygiene. This is true of travel management companies as well.
Select a travel agency that ensures there is always a plan B. They should offer support and take precautionary measures for the traveler well being.
They will advise their clients on vaccinations and health regulations of the destination. They should have plans for emergency health care at the destination if necessary.
They will brief the corporate traveler about the cultures and cleanliness standards of the region they are visiting. For example, whether the traveler should carry bottled water and areas that provide hygienic meals.
Data security criteria
Privacy is a major concern these days. Work with a travel provider who addresses the privacy concerns of traveling employees.
They should have a travel risk management plan to protect users from unauthorized access to personal data. The software they provide should allow the smooth flow of information and a security team that can manage safety around the clock.
The app should be designed to support their client operations and systems so that approval managers and travelers can use all functions seamlessly.
The app should maintain security and compliance protocol besides accessibility to customer data. They should also have all technologies, processes, and systems that manage such threats. Besides, they should stay updated on the latest regulation modifications.
Seamless approvals
An ideal software allows for approval processes without any hassle.
The options offered should be safe for travelers and must include all kinds of reservations. This way, when solutions are safe it becomes easy for approvals even if these bookings are not in line with company policies. They should be easy to manage and make instant approvals from any device.
Streamline policies
Managing policies can be a challenge. Some companies may overlook the critical points. For example, if women employees travel, they are likely to face more challenges than their male coworkers.
According to a survey in 2021, approximately 88% of women did not feel safe when they traveled. The Global Business Travel Association reports that only 18% of companies address these travel policy issues.
Travel companies can provide guidance on how gender-specific travel policies can get implemented. So that female business travelers can receive the duty of care to feel safe when they travel.
They will perform audits to analyze the policies and streamline the administration. They will also create comprehensive reports for easy decision-making that monitors progress.
The Bottom Line: Safety is a priority
Corporate Travel management companies will guide your company to assess, design and implement a solid travel plan with the duty of care. Travel managers are aware that they must focus on the well-being and protection of their business travelers.
Safety is a critical point in developing connections with service providers. You should hire a responsible service provider who offers advice and creates safety-conscious travel programs.