Here we will go over some strategies for making last-minute business travel arrangements easier.
Traveling for work is becoming an incredibly common business practice- so common that it made up about %25 of all travel in 2022. Since corporate travel has become a new standard for many companies, you may be presented with a situation where a trip is scheduled at the last minute, and you must rush the planning process and hope for the best.
Luckily, there are some strategies you can use to make sure your travel arrangements are made easier.
Let’s jump right in!
Create an Itinerary
An Itinerary is a detailed plan for a trip or journey that includes scheduling information. Your itinerary would likely include activities like the place and time of departures, arrivals, reservations, bookings, and activities.
When your business trip is scheduled on short notice, you may only have the details of a few trip activities. The planning process can be made easier by taking those few details and using them as the foundation of your itinerary. As long as those essential activities like meetings or flight times are included, you have enough structure to get by.
Do Some Budgeting
One of the first things you should do when you find out that business travel is in the works is start budgeting.
Budgeting is an important part of travel planning because it helps you understand how much money you can spend and where you can allocate it. Although you can rely on your company’s travel and expense management software, having a general idea of what you can afford to spend makes choosing flights, hotels, and meals fast and easy.
Make Your Bookings
Once you know where you are going and how much you can spend, your next step should be making reservations.
The main reservations to prioritize are flights, city transportation, lodging accommodations, and event activities such as conferences and seminars. Having everything booked before departure is easily the most essential part of planning; therefore, it should be one of the first things you do.
Use a Checklist
Having a last-minute business trip be sprung on you can be flustering- a feeling that often makes it difficult to think clearly. Having a corporate travel checklist on hand can save your trip whether you are thinking straight or not.
Your checklist will likely include items such as:
- Business attire
- Casual clothing
- Toiletries
- Personal Documentation
- Electronic chargers
- Extra shoes
- Work equipment
Each trip may be a bit different; however, you should save a generalized list for future use in case you run into a last-minute trip again.
Contact Your Care Team
You may not be aware, but you probably have a “care team” to contact when planning a last-minute business trip.
Your care team might be people such as travel agents, travel insurance agents, babysitters or nannies, pet sitters, house sitters, dry cleaners, or other like individuals.
If you don’t have these arrangements in order before leaving, you might find yourself in a predicament where you can’t attend. If you travel often, you should consider having “care team members” that are available to work on short notice.
Get Organized
Through the hectic process of planning a last-minute trip, your organization may be the factor that makes or breaks you.
There are many ways to stay organized while making arrangements; however, some of the best tools for organization are mobile apps and a physical travel binder for your documents.
A travel binder will have items such as; itinerary details, booking confirmation numbers and receipts, travel insurance information, and other important documents. The binder should remain in your possession at all times, in addition to your passport and ID.
There are mobile apps that can help you during the planning and execution of your business trip.
Some useful apps include:
- Expensify- Used for budgeting
- Smart Receipts- Used for scanning and storing expense receipts
- TripIt- Used for Itinerary creation
- Slack- Used for group/team communications
Conclusion
Making arrangements for a last-minute business trip can be a difficult, high-pressure situation.
Luckily, you can make the planning process easier by using strategies such as: creating an itinerary, making your reservations as soon as possible, budgeting, using a checklist, staying organized, and contacting the individuals on your “care team”.
