For many organizations, business travel operations have
begun to settle into patterns that aren’t exactly what they were before the
Covid-19 pandemic but aren’t too far off the mark either. Some major U.S. hotel
chains and airlines have pointed to springtime business travel volumes of 30
percent to 40 percent lower than 2019 volumes, illustrating a rebounding sector
that nevertheless hasn’t fully recovered.
Those returning to business travel do so in somewhat of a
changed world. Most of the government mandates that marked travel during the
peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, including mask and vaccine requirements, have
been dropped, but some cross-broader restrictions remain. Quarantine
requirements vary in countries for those travelers who contract the virus on
the road.
In some companies, the pandemic brought new attention to the
discipline of travel management. That landscape of changing Covid restrictions
has been paired with an embrace—or at least some tolerance—of remote
collaboration and hybrid working environments and travel costs that have
increased notably with inflation in the past few months. It’s a mixture of
ingredients that helps to illustrate the potential value of establishing and
operating a dedicated managed travel program.
The past few years have underscored the benefits of
structured travel management, in particular the ability to track every
traveler. In some organizations, pandemic-era dialogue among corporate senior
management, financial executives, human resources and risk management, among
others, have helped to cast a new light on the potential of a managed travel
program to advance the organizations’ overall goals and objectives.
Companies with existing managed travel programs,
even mature ones, also can benefit from regular examination of the program’s
structure in light of new options and considerations. For example, as
corporations examine their sustainability policies and carbon-emissions
strategies, managed travel programs can play a key role in guiding travelers
toward lower-emission options, assessing suppliers’ sustainability offerings
and situating travel within the larger corporate strategy. Management of
traveler data, particularly in Europe, remains an evolving and sensitive task
possibly best navigated through a managed travel program.