What Happens When Every Traveller Gets a Different Itinerary?

 

Rarely is a corporate trip only one person going from point A to point B. A business trip can include executives, employees, clients, speakers, event teams and other stakeholders, all travelling for the same reason, but with very different requirements. 

When every traveller has a different schedule, it can be difficult to arrange a trip quickly. Tailor-made travel can give you flexibility and convenience, but too much variation can lead to confusion, inefficiency and unnecessary stress.

Why Different Itineraries

Different itineraries for practical reasons. Travellers can leave from different cities, have different schedules, travel in different classes or prolong their trips for personal reasons. Senior executives may need premium flights and flexible transfers but other employees may travel by company travel policies and budgets.

And there are personal tastes. One traveller may want an early morning flight, one may want to arrive the nite before a meeting and the third may want to stay an extra day. More personalised modern corporate travel programs can increasingly accommodate such preferences. The issue arises when personalisation is not accompanied by appropriate coordination.

Coordination Becomes Harder

When each traveller has his or her own itinerary, travel managers have more information to handle. Monitoring of flights, hotel bookings, airport transfers, meeting schedules and changes individually is required.

The delay of one traveller may call for a different response than that of another. People who change their flight may also need to change their transfer arrangements. And when that information is spread across multiple bookings, emails, spreadsheets and travel platforms, it’s hard to keep everyone in the loop. In larger groups even a small change can trigger a chain reaction.

The Group Can Be Groupie

Business travel is often for the greater good. They might be at a conference, incentive trip, client meeting, training program or corporate event together. Everyone can have a completely different schedule, and divide up shared experiences.

Some travellers will be here hours before others. Some will have different hotel arrangements or miss group transfers or planned meals. Even when people are all at the same event, they may not feel like they are on a shared journey.

This can be particularly important for incentive travel where the shared experience is part of the reward itself.

Essential Communication

Diverse itineraries increase the importance of straightforward communication. Travellers need to know not only their own plans but also which parts of the schedule are shared.

A traveller may have their flight and hotel information but not the exact time the group is meeting, where a transfer is leaving from or if an activity has been changed. There are so many channels where updates are sent and it’s easy to miss important stuff.

A centralised travel platform or itinerary system can be very helpful. We want to give travellers an easy way to view their own personal schedule, as well as relevant group information, updates and emergency contacts, all in one place.

Personalisation Only Gets You So Far

Not all custom itineraries are a problem. Used carefully, they can actually enhance the travel experience. Not all employees have the same needs, and forcing them all to work the same schedule can create undue inconvenience. The trick is to strike the right balance between individual freedom and group coordination.

For example, travellers may have different flights but the same arrival window, hotel, airport transfer or event program. Or people may have different arrangements before the event, but a standard itinerary during the main program.

This means companies can tailor the experience but still have the reins of the operation.

Costs May Be More Difficult to Control

Different itineraries can complicate budgeting as well. When travellers book different flights, hotels, transfers and additional services, it is more difficult to compare the total cost of a trip. 

Sometimes it is harder to decide whether changes are needed or whether it is simply a matter of individual taste. And each traveller may have a different pattern making it tough for travel managers to forecast costs.

Standardised travel advice can be helpful. Companies can define acceptable booking windows, preferred airlines, hotel categories and spending limits, but still allow for reasonable flexibility.

Crisis Management Is Becoming More Difficult

One of the biggest challenges of fragmented travel is dealing with disruptions. If a flight is cancelled, a hotel booking changes or a destination throws up an unexpected problem, travel teams need to know exactly where each traveller is and what arrangements they have made.

With a good itinerary this data is fairly easy to comprehend. It can take much longer before you know who is affected with dozens of different itineraries. That’s why visibility is so crucial. A good corporate travel system should enable travel managers to see quickly where travellers are and where they are going and any booking information relevant to the traveller.

The Role of Technology

Technology can help significantly streamline the management of personalised corporate travel. Today’s travel management platforms can combine flight, hotel, transfer and traveller information and provide updates as plans change.

Artificial intelligence can also assist in identifying potential conflicts, suggesting alternatives and supporting travel teams when things go wrong. But travel managers don’t need to manually pore over every itinerary. Technology can identify which bookings need action.

Not necessarily to make every itinerary the same. It is to make different itineraries possible.

Merge Multiple Itineraries into One Trip

The best corporate travel programs understand that personalisation does not mean you cannot coordinate. An itinerary that will cater to each individual traveler’s needs but still within an overall journey that is very clearly structured.

Companies can create a master itinerary for the group that includes shared items such as key meetings, event sessions, transfers, meals and activities. Then individual itineraries can provide the traveller with specific detail within that framework. It creates two levels of visibility: what each individual needs to know, and what the group needs to know.

The Future of Corporate Travel

As business travel becomes more personalised, we’ll see fewer and fewer identical itineraries. Flexibility is increasingly important to employees, and companies want travel programs that promote productivity and employee experience. The solution is not to eliminate differences. It is to make wise.

Every traveller has a different itinerary, so it can be a complicated trip – but it doesn’t have to be a chaotic one. Good communication, clear travel policies, a central place for information and the right technology can help companies marry individual preferences with group coordination. At the end of the day, successful corporate travel isn’t about giving everyone the same journey. It’s about ensuring that wherever they are on their journey they are in the right place, at the right time, with the right information.