Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the business travel industry experienced a massive amount of disruption in 2020. This disruption created the necessity for several travel program changes, from urgent adjustments in how companies address duty of care to policy changes enforcing greater program compliance. On October 27th, Traxo brought together three travel industry experts to discuss the management of travel program changes and how travel managers can be more effective as they continue improving their programs.
Al Comeaux discussed the way people think about management and how people make decisions. Al proposed that leaders must be experts at affecting emotion and provided examples of times when he led successful changes and when his employees successfully led him to make important decisions.
Will Tate talked about how COVID-19 altered the corporate travel landscape, shifting the priorities away from traveler satisfaction toward duty of care and program compliance. He also emphasized the churn travel managers can expect to see within the industry as COVID-19 continues to create new dynamics between travel buyers, travel management companies, suppliers and other industry players.
Changes in TMC business models are among the most significant changes Will expects corporate travel to see in the coming months. As TMCs move away from transaction fees and become more subscription-based, it will become increasingly important for travel managers to access all of their business travel data in one place. Creating a single-system-of-record supports a more streamlined, omnichannel approach to travel management.
Jennifer Steinke highlighted the numerous changes she’s faced in her own travel program – from managing multiple TMCs and coordinating with suppliers to creating strategic plans for the future. Jennifer encouraged travel managers to be mindful that the impact of COVID-19 extends to everyone in the corporate travel ecosystem, emphasizing that it’s important to rework supplier relationships in a way that works for both entities.
These highlights are just a few of the many change management topics discussed in relation to corporate travel programs. To learn more about managing travel program changes, watch the webinar replay on Traxo's YouTube channel.