I plan a lot of travel, and not just for myself! Whether you’re booking travel for your boss or your in-laws, it’s critical to try to get them to communicate their preferences and expectations.
- First and foremost, locate and defer to your company’s travel policy. It’s important to follow your organization’s rules in order to get the reimbursement approved. Those rules supersede anything I might suggest on this page, and they may even have specialized booking site or a fool-proof process to make your life easier (or much harder, depending on the platform…). Don’t forget to read the Disclaimer, as these are tips that work for me, not professional advice that will work for every situation.
- Determine who is paying and how. Are you using a company card, requesting an advance, or is the traveler being reimbursed after the trip? If there’s more that one possible source for reimbursement, confirm the correct one in advance.
- Build an itinerary that will include at least the flight (arrival and departure times, layovers, flight number, confirmation code), ground transfer (including how to find them and contact information, if relevant), and lodging (address, phone number, confirmation code).
- Ask for frequent flyer, membership, and reward numbers so you can include them as you make reservations.
- Flight Legs and Timing.
- In booking a flight, what is their and/or the company’s priority: cost, speed, number of layovers, departure and/or arrival times?
- Is there such a thing as too early or too late? Remember that a 7am flight might have them leaving the house at 4pm.
- Are there any airports they prefer to avoid?
- Try to book nonstop.
- Avoid domestic red-eye flights unless the traveler specifies otherwise.
- Avoid self-transfer flights (connecting flights at different airports in the same city).
- Flight Seating Preferences.
- If the flight class is not determined by the travel policy, strive to make the person happy and be a good steward of resources when choosing a flight and seating class. This can be tricky, because each individual and company’s spending limit is subjective, so you may need to ask.
- Would they like an upgrade? If the company policy to reimburse economy only but the traveler can pay the difference to upgrade, ask how much they’d be willing to self-pay to upgrade. For reimbursements, make sure you screen shot the economy rate for the date, so that they only pay the difference.
- Do they prefer window or aisle seats?
- Avoid bulkhead unless the traveler specifies otherwise.
- Ground Transportation.
- Depending on the destination, company policy, and the traveler’s comfort level, they may be using a private transfer, taxi, or public transportation to get to the event or their hotel. Confirm whether you need to reserve a private transfer in advance. If public transportation is available and preferred, include directions to the train station/bus stop from the airport terminal on the itinerary.
- Lodging Preferences.
- In reserving a room, what is their and/or the company’s priority: proximity to event location or public transport hubs, brand loyalty, price, accessibility?
- Do they have a floor preference? If there is an elevator, usually attempt to get a higher floor; if there is no elevator, attempt to get a low floor.
- Reserve a king room over a double queen room if available unless the traveler specifies otherwise.
- If there is time to do so, create a draft itinerary and present it to the traveler for feedback before making the final reservations.
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