For those who don’t often travel for business, it’s easy to glamorise it. But we know it’s not all it’s made out to be… Flight Centre Business Travel has put together a list of five myths about travelling for work and ways we can help you deal with the challenges, like spending less time away from family and friends.
Myth 1
It’s easier to book everything yourself
It may seem easier and cheaper to make bookings yourself, or tell your sales teams to do it, but it’s not.
Organising flights, hotel bookings, airport transfers, lounge passes, insurance, car rental and loyalty points and then sorting it all when things go awry, takes a lot of time – time you don’t have. Research done by Flight Centre Business Travel shows that travel arrangements for almost 45% of all business trips are changed at least once.
Working with Flight Centre Business Travel means you’ll have 24/7 access to a dedicated account manager who will adjust your travel bookings and help you at the drop of a hat. Now you aren’t left on your own, stranded in an airport, away from your family, trying to rearrange your travel plans and get home.
Myth 2
Business travel is always fun and glamorous
There’s nothing glamorous about getting off a 12 hour flight, waiting in queues to get your rental car, rush to a three hour meeting, attend the obligatory work dinner with potential business partners and get back to the airport to catch the red-eye home again.
Or perhaps it was a quick trip this time to a local destination where you were at the airport at 4am to catch the first flight out. After a busy day of meetings you race back to the airport only to get stuck in terrible traffic, miss your flight and spend hours on the phone trying to re-book an alternative or worst case even book another night in a nearby hotel – not my idea of fun or glamour!
Wouldn’t it be more glamorous if you had a travel management partner to cost-effectively plan and book your travel? A dedicated account manager available 24/7 to change your travel and get you back home, no matter where you are in the world?
Myth 3
You get to see the world
While you might get to travel to different countries and cities, you will more than likely spend most of your time in taxis, meetings and hotel rooms. Unless you planned ahead and added some leisure time to your business trip, your experience of exotic countries will probably be what you see from the inside of taxis on your way to the hotel or back to the airport.
As a business traveller, you’ll never have as much time for exploring as those on a leisure holiday, although Flight Centre Business Travel will help you put together a travel package that allows you time to balance work and play.
Myth 4
You always travel business class
It’s a common misconception that all business travellers travel business or first class. If you’re lucky your company will fly you business class if you’re travelling over a long distance in a short period of time. But most likely, you’re a sales manager who travels often and your company doesn’t have the extra money to pay for luxuries.
Working with an established travel-management company like Flight Centre Business Travel, which has access to multiple airfare options and exclusive discounts, means we can help get you the best seat for your budget, so you can arrive home refreshed and ready to socialise.
Myth 5
You’ll get lots of work done
It certainly is a great plan, but once reality sets in and you wearily ease back into your reclining seat, refreshment in hand and a choice of movies in front of you, the will to work on that important presentation often disappears. And by the time you get to your hotel room at night you’ll probably be too exhausted to check your emails or find out what’s going on at the office.
Flight Centre Business Travel looks at all the options to ensure you can work on that important meeting agenda on your way there and sleep in total comfort on your way back, arriving home refreshed and ready to report on your sales pitch.
There’s a SMARTER way
If you’re nodding your head and smiling in agreement, you probably already know the challenges of work travel. In fact, you probably have a whole sales team who face these on a regular basis. Get your guys home, save your business money on last minute travel changes and put the glamour back into business travel.
Call Flight Centre Business Travel today on 0877 40 5160 or visit our website at www.flightcentrebusinesstravel.co.za/travel-insights.
