Travel Management Playbook
Travel Management Playbook

Travel Management Playbook

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Playbook written by A Team Overseas — Work with Executive Assistants trusted by leaders from OnDeck, Levels Health, and YC backed startups. Subscribe to our newsletter here to make sure you more playbooks and tips to level up your delegation!

🌎 Overview

It is common for clients to travel for both personal and business reasons, and as an EA, you have to make sure their travels run as smoothly and hassle-free as possible.

✈️  Travel Profile

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Starting with your client's traveler's profile or preferences is the best way to avoid stress in travel management. Having your leader's travel itinerary and login credentials readily available will streamline the planning process, enable you to make prompt decisions, and prevent you from wasting time asking the same questions over and over again or worse, speculating.

The Basic Travel Profile

Passport number & known traveler number (if client doesn’t have this yet, make sure to apply for him)
Loyalty numbers (airline, hotel, car rental, etc)
Airline preference
Home airport
Seating class, seating type, leg room preference, and emergency row preference

The Advanced Travel Profile

Preferred travel time (morning, evening, no red eyes, etc)
Transportation: Hire a car when they arrive or rideshare?
Type of accommodation: Airbnb, hotel, villa?
Amenities: Which hotel amenities are dealbreakers and which are nice to have?
Food preferences: Food preferences or restrictions to consider while traveling?
Timezones / currency: Will there be a time change or a different currency to consider?

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*You can take the initiative to look through his inbox for the necessary documents such as the frequent flyer information (usually located on the boarding pass itself).

📋  Process for getting client’s preferences

For the EA

1. Categorize preferences

  • Once you know your client’s universal profile, you can start to categorize the preferences through different types of travel.

      • For each category, you can adjust and customize the preferences. For example:

    1. Leisure travel ‣ activities they want to do
    2. Business travel ‣ if it’s a meeting with a client or investor, does he want to meet in the hotel or a restaurant? Co-working spaces for the times that he’ll be working?
    3. Family travel ‣ activities the kids wants to do
  1. Clarifying questions
    • Make a shortlist of any clarifying questions you may have (i.e. one of your VIP clients is in the city, do you want to meet with him before the conference starts? Do you want to use the same budget as last time?), so you can address all the unknowns right away.

  2. Zeroing in on the details

      3. Once you’ve taken care of the big basics, turn your attention to the specifics.

      SAMPLE SCENARIOS:

    1. If your client needs to rent a car, identify the pick-up and drop-off locations and how to get there.
    2. Do they need a late check-out from their hotel?
    3. If there is a currency change, identify how and when they can change their money.
    4. Identify and make a list of restaurants nearby.
    5. Research their location and consider if there is traffic, construction, an event, or or anything else that might affect their trip.

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      While you take note of all the details, keep it simple when you filter it up to your client. Give them information they will need in a useful itinerary but not the background noise. Including a link to an article that talks about why traffic is so bad in London is not helpful. Letting them know to expect heavy traffic so 20 extra minutes have been added to their travel blocks is helpful.

  1. Create backup plans
    • Sometimes things will go wrong and as a proactive and forward-thinking EA, you have to look into potential issues and plan for the worst-case scenarios such as medical emergencies, lost luggage, missing flight, etc. While it may never be used, it is still best to make contingency plans for such situations.

  1. Delighters
    • Look out for things that will enhance your clients' travel experience as you explore the itinerary or add some delighters.

      • 🏃 If they are a runner, try to find a running route for them.

      ☕ If they enjoy coffee, find the best coffee shop in the area and set aside time for them to visit.

      🙌 Even though your leader might not have the time to do or see what you suggest, it shows that you know them and supports their work/life balance even through your travel management skills! It’s all about going the extra mile for them!

  1. Debriefing
    • Debriefings can help you both establish trust and improve your working relationship while helping your client process their trip and share action items you can help them monitor.
    • Schedule a block of time with your client after their business travel to debrief from their trip. Use this time to take note of the things that went well, and also any pain points you can fix for the next trip. You can also take this time to obtain their receipts so you can help expense them on time.

📝 Preferences you need to acquire

These are the preferences you need to get from your client:

  • 🛄 Trip Planning Tracker
  • 📒 Travel Preferences
  • ⏰ Day of Travel Preferences
  • 🏨 Accommodation Preferences

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