Ireland

Managing business travel during a crisis

Something big has happened and as the travel manager for your company you’re responsible for getting travellers home safely and quickly. Do you...

a) panic a lot, as you don’t know where to start

b) feel confident that your contingency plan is in place and CWT is already springing into action.

To ensure your company is as prepared as possible when a crisis occurs we have created a checklist for travel managers and travellers:

Checklist for travel managers:

• Check that your company Travel & Expense (T&E) policy clearly states how critical traveller information is to be communicated at times of crisis – via the TMC Portal, email, company intranet site, third party risk management company etc.
• Understand your company duty of care responsibilities and ensure that your T&E policy covers this. Encouraging staff to get back to the UK by any means possible could put their personal safety at risk.
• Ensure there is a simple and quick process in place whereby credit card limits are extended for all travellers caught en route during an emergency.
• Consider setting up a temporary crisis email address for inbound communication eg: ashcloud@xxxcompany.com or a permanent dedicated crisis email address eg: travelcrisis@xxxcompany.com

Checklist for individual travellers:

• KEEP YOUR TRAVEL PROFILE UP TO DATE! Sorry to shout but this is so important to enable CWT to help you in a crisis. Particularly vital is YOUR mobile phone number, so you can be contacted while you are away. Read more about your traveller profile
• Listen to local news and supplier websites to get the latest information
• Keep all receipts relating to costs incurred during the crisis.
• Always make changes to your travel itineraries via CWT where possible.
  This ensures that traveller tracking data is accurate and up-to-date.
• Carry the telephone number for your CWT emergency service (check this with your travel arranger in advance).