This post is part of our Return to Travel Sooner and Safer Series based on the 5 Steps to Return to Business Travel Sooner and Safer e-book.
The days of putting a travel policy in the back of an employee handbook and praying that employees remember to refer to it when they book travel are over. In today’s world you need to be much more proactive because policy, rules, and guidance can change on a day to day basis. Picking the right channels, tones and delivery are key to communicating these changes to your company’s travelers.
A great travel program is nothing without its travelers being able to access the information, recommendations, and restrictions that are meant to guide their decisions, purchases, and behaviors. Once communication channels are established, it is imperative that your travel policy is communicated on consistent and frequent basis. Below are some examples of lines of communication that can be utilized that for a travel program:
Whether mass mail, newsletter or individual messages, email is easy and available.
Benefits
- Accessible by all
- Target organization, groups, or individuals
Drawbacks
- Easy to ignore
- Out of context
- Difficult to be relevant
Intranet
Companies use Intranet sites, wikis, or Google Drive to store documents and resources.
Benefits
- Accessible by all
- Easy to update
Drawbacks
- Requires proactive searching by travelers
- Easy to forget
- Manually updated
Intra-office chat
Tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Lark have replaced internal emails in many companies.
Benefits
- Target organization, groups, or individuals
- Team or policy-specific groups/ channels
Drawbacks
- Potential to become “noisy” with multiple channels and conversation threads
OBT notifications
Most OBTs allow you to create notifications that appear when travelers search for travel.
Benefits
- Visible to travelers in the right context
- Part of the booking flow
Drawbacks
- Can be slow to update
- Limited customizations
- Lack to relevance for specific trips
The Shep extension
Shep is a browser extension that “reads” the search fields and displays guidance.
Benefits
- Fully customizable
- Works on >2K travel sites
- Relevant to each search
- Data from other sources
Drawbacks
- Additional tool that needs to be added
- Needs IT involvement to set up
So no matter whether you are a small virtual start up that uses intra-office chat or a traditional in-office enterprise that use email newsletters, pick the channels that best suite your company’s culture and work dynamic. Maintaining consistency in how you communicate your travel program ensures your employees have the information they need when they need it. Shep can help travel managers communicate their travel program’s policies, rules, and information consistently across multiple OBTs and 2,000 travel sites. Click the Let’s Talk button below to find out more!
