Finding the best travel management company (TMC) can seem like a difficult task but there are Things Your TMC Should Be Doing. Yet a great outsourced travel manager makes corporate travel booking a breeze. For corporate travel or group travel a great TMC will save you both time and money. Your travel manager will take the hassle out of arranging travel and keeping track of expenses.
If your TMC is not doing these top eight things, then you need to find a new company fast!
1. Gives Great Personal Service
You want your TMC to be providing you with service that is personal and builds a relationship. Never work with a TMC that only communicates through a call centre. A great TMC doubles as your PA when it comes to organising corporate travel as well as group travel and events. This will enhance your employees’ corporate travel experience. Make sure you have a designated account manager who you can always get hold of quickly and has the ability to act. Ask your TMC how long they’ve been dealing with their clients to garner an idea of their customer loyalty and level of service Unless they are providing quality and personal service then you need to get a new TMC.
2. Have Long Term Staff
A good travel management company should have not only long standing relationships with its clients, but with its staff as well. If there is a large turnover of staff at your TMC then this is a red flag. When organising corporate travel you want to be able to rely on your TMC to deliver a great service and also be approachable. Your TMC should ideally have long-term staff that can build a relationship with you over time, if not, find another company.
3. Quality & Useful Reporting
A great TMC will provide you with quality reporting that saves you time and gives you bespoke data to suit your company needs. You want to make sure that the reports that you are receiving are of good quality and actually helping you to keep track of corporate travel expenses. Make sure that your TMC is providing you with what you need and not what they think you need If your TMC is charging you for reports or giving you useless reports then it’s time to move on.
4. A One Stop Shop
If you need to organise corporate events, meetings and conferences as well as business travel why should you have to use two different companies or two different departments within the same company? You need your travel management agency to be a ‘one stop shop’. Your ideal TMC should be able to handle booking both group travel and corporate travel without any hassle. Streamlining to one agency means that you will get better value for your dollar and a more personal and efficient service. If your TMC can’t handle both corporate events planning and corporate travel bookings then you need to take your business elsewhere.
5. Have Local Knowledge
A great TMC will have in depth knowledge about the local area that you need to arrange travel to. If you are sending your employees to a conference, you want to make sure that your TMC will be available for support to employees. A good travel manager will have local contacts and understand the local ways of doing things. If your TMC does not have local knowledge or cannot provide support then find one that does.
6. Use The Latest Technology
A great TMC will keep up with the trends and utilise the latest travel booking technology. Working with a TMC that uses up to date technology makes for a streamlined and easy travel process that will make your employees want to travel! If your TMC is not making use of new technology and if they are not advising you of new apps and processes then you need to upgrade.
7. Have A 24/7 Service to Deal with Emergency Travel Situations
No one wants things to go wrong whilst traveling. However, your TMC should be equipped to deal with any issues that might arise during corporate or group travel. In the event that something drastically goes wrong when your employees are away from home, your TMC needs to have an action plan for how to deal with an incident. If your TMC cannot give you adequate procedures on how they will act in an emergency to ensure that your corporate travellers are safe and new bookings are made, then you need to show them the door.
8. Time Is Money
In our busy world time is money. You need a TMC that can provide you with a quick and reliable service. A great TMC not only saves you the time it takes to look up travel bookings and compare prices, but also saves you money as well. A good TMC should be taking the hassle out of corporate travel management and saving you time and money too. If your TMC is taking up too much of your time then it is time to find another.
Choose someone that’s flexible, friendly and fun as you’ve got to put up with them everyday.
At Pure Business Travel, we’re exactly that – flexible, friendly, fun and dedicated to providing you with the best travel management services possible, click here for more information about our corporate and group travel management services.
