adminPlanning any business trip can be stressful, but the pressure is even greater when you are making those plans for your boss.
With the ability to make or break an out-of-town meeting with clients, arranging travel is a serious responsibility that takes a good deal of intentionality and foresight. Despite the stress, planning a trip can be a great opportunity to show your company your capabilities and skills, potentially earning the confidence of your superiors.
If your job responsibilities include managing business travel arrangements, use these tips to plan a trip for your boss that is sure to impress.
Communicate well
One of the most important things to keep in mind when planning a trip for your boss is to never make assumptions.
When you’re assigned the task of taking care of business travel details, write down all of the information that you’re given and ask for additional details as needed.
Know the budget that you’re working with and be sure you don’t go over it. While you want to make sure that your boss is comfortable, your company likely won’t appreciate it if you spend more money than you were assigned.
It’s also helpful to find out right away if your boss has any specific preferences or has any ties to specific loyalty programmes/travel brands.
You don’t want to make reservations at the Hyatt only to discover that your boss prefers to stay at a Marriott. It’s hard to meet your boss’s expectations if you don’t actually know what they are, so be sure to find out in advance what those preferences and expectations are.
Once you have all of the information that you need, make a checklist of everything that you have to do before the trip.
Put a date next to each item to remind yourself when the task needs to be accomplished. Entrepreneur magazine reported that checklists are an effective way to optimise performance and ensure that nothing gets forgotten, so you should consider using this strategy even if you aren’t typically a list person.
Write down all the details your boss gives you and create a checklist to ensure that nothing is forgotten.
Plan for the unexpected
While your boss’s time is valuable, always plan for the unexpected when it comes to booking flights. If the day’s first meeting is at 10am, don’t book a flight that lands at 9am.
Flight delays could completely throw off the schedule that you planned. Before you purchase the tickets, budget in some extra time for delays on the day of travel.
You never know when your boss is going to need to impress a client, so it doesn’t hurt to make reservations at an upscale restaurant far in advance. It’s much easier to cancel a reservation than to try to find a table at the last minute.
Keep in mind that dinner reservations aren’t the only area that will benefit from a bit of foresight. According to USA Today, making business travel plans as early as possible is a good strategy for every step of the process.
It’s also a good idea to be safe rather than sorry when it comes to WiFi. Make sure that the hotel you book has a wireless connection available in the rooms.
If your boss ends up needing to do some last-minute preparations for a meeting, being able to access the Internet from the hotel will be much more convenient than scrambling to find a coffee shop with WiFi.
Before your boss leaves the office, make sure that you have forwarded them any confirmation emails and that you print out extra hard copies just in case.
Arrange for exemplary transportation
Nothing will make your boss’s trip go smoothly like having a reliable black car service lined up for every step of their business trip. “When you arrange ground transportation for your boss, you need to know that you’re working with a company that you can rely on,” said GroundLink CEO Liz Carisone. — groundlink.com
Online Reporter