Today I will be speaking about how assistants can put together the ultimate travel itinerary or in other words how we can make our boss a business travel superstar! But first I want to dispel a few myths that assistants might have when it comes to business travel. When you think about travel do you picture the tranquility and beauty of the beach in this picture. Can you imagine yourself sipping a cocktail while sunbathing and reading a good book...
Or do you think of a city break with lots of sightseeing, good food and beautiful buildings... We think travel looks like this, it is exciting and a great opportunity especially when it is free! BUT in reality ....
Business travel really looks like this ... yes the inside of a very dull office! When our managers travel for business they don’t get to relax, they don’t get to see the sights and they don’t get to work on their tan. It isn’t like that, usually they are traveling between airports, hotels and offices and they don’t really see anything of the city. Along with all the usual stresses associated with travel your boss also has to attend meetings and act professionally while: dealing with jetlag the continuous business activities back in the UK while also being away from their family Just think on top of that, all of the bits of paper and information needed to travel without any hitches This is where you come in! A kick ass travel itinerary constructed by you will help your boss massively. It will enable them to be organised when you can’t be there to do that for them. Now I want to concentrate on the key components that make up an itinerary. I do think itineraries should change from trip to trip but here are the key components that will be in everyone...
Here are the 4 most important parts of a travel itinerary... we have date and location of travel: I would include the length of the flight and the time differences confirmation information: For everything that has been booked as part of the trip. Flights, car hire, hotels. Basically any information that will help if for any reason the company can not find the booking address and phone numbers for every place visited: I had one manager that was notorious for his bad sense of direction and would get lost all the time. It was so important that I included all the addresses of everywhere he was going and if he got lost he had the phone numbers to call for help. Basically in the end I made him promise to always get a cab! contact info the people they are meeting If anything goes wrong or your director is running late they know they the have information on the itinerary and do not need to look at their phone or through old emails Along with these four key components I also include a section that I like to call...
Firstly - do prepare for the worst. I know, I know this is a fairly negative approach to take but if you have thought of all of the possible outcomes prior to the trip you will be much better prepared to deal with anything that occurs. I had one manager in New York while I was on holiday a few years ago, he had major major problems getting back to London including trying to get across the city from one airport to the other to try and catch any flight was leaving for the UK as they mostly delayed or cancelled. He tried to get in touch with me but I was in a completely different time zone. But I had drilled it in to him that the itinerary was there to help when I couldn't - he found all of the information he needed in case of emergency and was able to cope without me on that occasion. So I had included the following: - the out of hours telephone number for the travel agent these travel agents cost a fortune so use them, the travel agent was able to book his flight while he was still making his way to the other airport - the telephone number and address for the local embassy my directors have never phoned a local embassy but they have never had a really emergency. If their passport gets stolen or they are in an accident the embassy really can help so well worth noting down - the airline emergency and customer service numbers If your director can’t get in touch with you or the agent they can at least call the airline directly and it stops them flaffing about with the airline website which is usually rubbish. - air miles / exec club membership details These are worth their weight in gold if your manager is stuck in an airport. they can wait in the lounge they will priority seats and they will probably get home quicker than everyone else. If your boss travels frequently and doesn’t have a membership card I strongly suggest you get them one.
So now I would like you to spend the next 5 minutes looking at the travel itineraries you use in your role. I don’t have all the answers and I’m sure there are others in the room that have great examples to share Can you please in groups of 4 or 5 discuss the following: - Do you use travel itineraries? - Do you use the 4 key components? - If not, what do you leave out? - Is there anything your would add? Great, I’m sure some of you have come up with things that I also add to travel packs and I will share some examples with you now:
Now you might think this is over kill but... I once was able to get my director all around Korea, all around china, and all around Japan and then she got lost going from the Heathrow to an evening reception. I just assumed she had a sat nav in her car - she didn’t and I got told off! So now I always include maps and directions! Also if they have a number of meetings in the city I do tend to include details on how to get from one meeting to the next so they know how long it takes and the best way to get there (by cab, metro etc)
Local tourism is all the rage at the moment. It is all about feeling like a local in a foreign land. In other words knowing the best places to go to and those hidden gems not many visitors know about. If you add a small list of good restaurants in the city your manager is staying in, this information will give them a great chance to show off their local knowledge with clients (even if they don’t have any local knowledge) Also it suggests that your director knows how to treat his clients well If your manager is eating on their own it means they won’t have to wander around looking for somewhere nice to eat. You’ve give then a list of options. Some of you might be wondering how you get that local knowledge - ask your network, ask your colleagues in that country, there is also a new website called Executips which helps PAs source information on hotels and restaurants in other cities - try there too.
A local weather guide for each of the countries the director is visiting is so helpful. One of my directors travelled from Sydney to Tokyo on the same trip. Sydney was experiencing a heat wave and Tokyo forecasted heavy rain and gusty winds. If I hadn’t of checked that before hand she would of been wearing the most inappropriate of outfits. This is my most critical point, creating the ultimate travel itinerary will mean that your director is prepared before the trip, they are stress free and organised during the trip so that they can concentrate on business and they are happy on their return to the office. In this case, my director was very conscious of what she wore so it was important that she packed the right clothes and a weather guide really helped her with that.
Now I know most of our directors do not get downtime but when they do it is usually spent in their hotel A list of the hotel amenities are again important for your manager to know and not have to worry about. Do they need to pack a hair dryer, does the hotel have free wi-fi, can they pack their gym stuff? One of my managers was a real gym fanatic and expected the hotel he was staying to have a gym - so I always check what hotel amenities there are even if I haven’t booked the hotel myself.
There is so much information on travel via the internet and apps I would embrace it. - both for your manager and for you Online city guide apps are great they are packed full of useful information on the city and can be used without wi-fi. Here are a few other apps that I like to use - Weather pro You can add the weather of each city on your phone and it is up to date by the hour. It’s built into the phone already and is so easy to use. Get your manager to use it! - Seatguru This is great if your manager is fussy with their airline seat. you can type the airline, the flight number and the date and the app will tell you which is the best seat on the plane. - Gateguru Is like trip advisor but for an airport. it is great if you have time to kill at the airport and want to know where to eat, where the shops are and other services like cash points. If your manager needs to pick up a souvenir for their kids this app will tell them (or you!) where exactly they need to go in the airport. - Tipulator As a brit I find knowing how to tip and how much to tip really confusing. In the UK 10% for average service is fine right? In New York the waiter actually followed me out of the restaurant and down the street asking me why I only tipped him 10%. In Barcelona you don’t tip at all... in some cases I’ve had waiters refuse to take a tip from me. Very confusing and a little embarrassing especially in front of client - this app calculates what to tip which is handy - FlightTrack This apps follows the path of loads of international flights with info on departure gates, delays and cancellations which is so useful when anticipating the arrival and departure of the boss! - Wifi finder This app locates internet hotspots in your area and it works all over the world and gives you directions too! The list is endless but it is well worth embracing apps as they can be so helpful for your manager and for you too!
Last buy not least two things - what to do with the itinerary and what not to do Remember to print off the itinerary and additional documents. I always put the papers in an A5 plastic wallet so they can keep everything together, they can put their passports and room keys etc in there too and it all fits easily into a bag or briefcase. I send a copy to any colleagues that need to know their whereabouts (saves them asking me) and also any of their family that need the information as well. In addition to emailing everything to them as one PDF I suggest you upload the documents to an online management website, either your company system or Dropbox just in case anything gets misplaced they can print it all again from where ever they are. The last thing - not to do is ... Don’t make additional work for yourself. If your manager is working from another local office and having their meetings there I just ask them to use outlook as I normally would if they were in the UK and I don’t include any meeting details in their itinerary.
So in conclusion my final take away for you is that I do think it is worth spending a bit more time on creating the ultimate travel itinerary because: 1. your manager will be well prepared before the trip and they will know what to expect 2. during the trip they will be stress free and able to concentrate on business rather than getting around 3. and finally they will be happy on their return to the office and hopefully they will have bought you something from duty free to say thanks for all your hard work! And ultimately that makes us very happy assistants!
