The new normality caused by COVID-19 disrupting our lives has also brought about many changes in how we interact, work, move around and travel.
Business travel has also been hit and we need to stop and think about what our travel itineraries will be like from now on. The Travel Manager will be even more important as a strategic role for coordinating different areas or departments in a company, but above all, this role will become an interlocutor to give the travellers and executives in your companies peace of mind and security when they have to travel.
To help them to achieve this task, the Viajes El Corte Inglés, Companies Division has designed a Standard Operating Procedure that acts as a guide for the Traveller Manager to perform their duties.
This is based on three basic pillars:
- Develop the Safety Procedure.
- Assign new duties for the Travel Manager in the company and how the travel agency assists them with taking on these duties.
- Advice through tips or recommendations aimed at cost efficiency and traveller welfare.
Develop the Safety Procedure
It is now more important than ever to consider Duty of Care tools in the Safety Procedure. In this regard, the Viajes El Corte Inglés Companies Division regularly sends customers information associated to our Travel Risk Academy programme, a bulletin with tips on safety and risk management, each one focusing on a specific topic.
In this situation, it is important to know where and how you can travel. For this reason, Viajes El Corte Inglés offers its corporate accounts updated information from sources like GEBTA, IATA, Amadeus and the European Union.
Assign new duties to the Travel Manager
Business travel requires new duties for the travel manager and the travel agency. Viajes El Corte Inglés will accompany the Travel Manager to advise them on these new duties, which will be performed in the different stages of travel (pre, during and post) and in which communication, coordination and control and monitoring of travellers are essential.
We will briefly analyse the duties in each phase of corporate travel:
Before travelling:
- Review the travel policy involving the company's Legal, Human Resources, Medical Service, Safety and Financial Departments to ensure we are fully informed.
- Offer updated information from MAE or GEBTA or Tripcare on the destinations, entry rules and restrictions .
- Define preferential providers.
- Review travel insurance policies (pandemic cover, credit card cover, etc.).
- Tell employees how to request the EU Digital COVID Certificate in order to travel to member states. It can be processed through the Ministry of Health or through the portals set up by the Autonomous Communities. For full details, click here.
During travel:
- Monitor the traveller, making sure that they are locatable and being able to contact them at the destination to clear up any issues or help them with corresponding procedures.
After travelling:
- Identify risk countries that require quarantine on returning through remote working.
- Review consumption reports to detect possible.
Advice on cost efficiency and traveller welfare
Through our consulting area, we provide a series of recommendations to apply to the travel policy in order to reduce the cost of different products (flight, hotel, cars, train, etc.) coupled with employee safety during travel.