How can I effectively plan and book business travel without prior experience?

[dianevill]

Help!

I am starting a new job June 16th that requires some travel. Here's the thing: the company is pretty small (12 employees) and I'm on my own for making travel arrangements. I have no idea where to start. I'm going to be traveling all over the states and maybe Canada (and a possible trip to Rome - now that one I'm excited about!).

Where do I start? I'll have a company credit card - no mile rewards; I'm supposed to watch costs but don't necessarily have to take the cheapest flight. They are more concerned with getting me to places in a timely fashion (but I'm guessing they wouldn't appreciate a $1300 airfare bill when I could have gotten a one-stop flight for $300). I do have some kind of rewards card with Northwest, but I haven't been on a plane in so many years that I don't think it's worth anything.

Do I go through Travelocity? Do I get a travel agent that I just call and tell him/her to book it? Do I go to the airline's website directly? Any airlines I really want to avoid? (I'll be flying out of Milwaukee). I know I want to do non-stop if that's possible and financially feasible. What about car rental? Am I better off always using the same company so I can get upgrades (and which do you recommend)? Same with hotels. Try to stick with the same hotel chain? Again, any recommendations?

As you can tell, I'm pretty clueless. Any and all advice is welcome. This is the only part of the job I'm really nervous about. REALLY nervous!

Thanks for any help!

 

[KellARooni]

I have never used a travel agent so my advice comes from me always having to book my own travel arrangements...I would start with a site like Expedia (or travelocity) where you can book your flight hotel and rental car in one package. It saves a lot of time and you can do for yourself what a travel agent would do for you. My personal favorite is tripadvisor.com, it uses the most popular travel websites and travelers reviews to give you the best options for your money and you can see what others had to say about the place. If you are going to be responsible for your own travel it would be very benefical. If there is one particular hotel chain you prefer then you can get a rewards card for that company...one benefit to that is if you get it for yourself (not the company) then you can use those rewards on a personal trip! You can always use your card to get your rewards even if you book through an online service, just let them know when you check in that you have a rewards card. HTH!! Good Luck!

 

[Nanisu]

I love Orbitz. I find them cheaper than both travelocity and expedia, they call you and let you know if your flight is delayed or what gate it's at, you can save your info, they are great.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Find a travel agent you trust, but since airlines have cut out the commissions, you'll have to pay a fee for her help. In the meantime, contact Marriott and Holiday Inn and the other lodging providers. You'll build up an incredible amount of points in a hurry that come in real handy.

 

[Karen]

The last company I worked for we went through a local travel agent. We were fortunate that their fees really didn't amount to much. It was really worth it when flights were changed or your plans changed all we had to do was call them up (from anywhere) and they would take care of getting us on the next available flight or where ever we had to be. They also took care of car rental.

Sign up for the different hotel reward cards right online at each of their websites. That way you'll already have your card or number. We could also give this information to our agent.

The agent also would do our rental cars if needed. However, from taking personal trips where I booked our own reservations, I found that you get better deals if you book online. (We flew to Denver and I reserved a vehicle with Budget and Alamo, because we weren't sure which one was closer to the terminal. We ended up using Budget and because I did the booking online we were able to upgrade to a larger vehicle at no charge. The agent behind the counter said that as employees they didn't even get that option at a good rate.)

Sorry to ramble on, these are just a few experiences that I've had. Happy travels!

 

[lacychef]

Don't have any advice really, but wow--that's a fun addition to your new adventure! (especially Rome!)
My group always flies SW to conference & we've always had good experiences.

 

[lkprescott]

DH traveled for his last job for training sessions. We never had to worry about airfare (the company had a corporate account for that) but he did have to make his own hotel arrangements and then get reimbursed (which was kinda bizarre considering it was a huge company - you'd think they'd get corporate rates). Anyway, he went Marriott. They have a frequent stayers kind of card and plan that he signed up for right away. He's never been disappointed with a Marriott and the plan added up points that went toward free nights he could redeem. The one he stayed in had to fix something in his room but even that wasn't an inconvenience to his stay there. They really seem to go above and beyond most other chain hotels. Their free breakfast is good too... way more than cold cereal, stale bagels and coffee. They also have TV checkout, very clean rooms and in the one we stayed at once, an iron in the closet and a hair dryer in the bathroom! Oh and coffee maker with coffee supplies right there in our room! Sorry I can't help otherwise but I can definitely recommend Marriott and their rewards program.

 

[Jean DeVries]

I use Travelocity or Orbitz to find the price ranges for the airlines, then book directly through the airline website. I assume you'll be able to sign up for the airline's frequent flier program and keep those miles? A lot of times, there are better bargains on the airline sites than on Travelocity or Orbitz. One of them charges a fee, too, if I remember correctly.

The advantage is, though, that they then act like a travel agent if something goes wrong. Or, if you're a complete dolt like me and book your mom's ticket to California in her maiden name (which, by the way, she hasn't had during my lifetime...), they'll cancel your entire reservation and book you a new one.

As far as cars, I've always had good luck with Hotwire.com. You have to pay upfront, and there's a pretty strict cancellation policy (you can't) and a pretty strict I-need-to-keep-the-car-longer policy (they charge you through the nose), but I've gotten upgrades pretty frequently with them. I don't do any business traveling, however, so I don't know how much flexibility you'd need.

I echo the Marriott sentiment, and have always had good luck with Holiday Inn Expresses. Love those.

Have fun! I've always wanted a big-girl travel job!

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Car rentals? That's easy.Hertz Gold.I know you can probably spend a lot of time on the travel sites and you might get the rate down a couple of bucks a day, but the reality is, the time you spend probably isn't worth the bucks.When you're Hertz Gold, when you get to the airport, your skip the lines at the counter and go to the pickup area. Your name is on a signboard that tells you where your car is parked. They know when your flight is arriving, so the trunk will be open so you can toss your bad right in there, the key is in the ignition and the paperwork is on the seat. You sign it, show your ID and DL to the guard and you're on your way.That alone is worth a couple extra bucks a day - and if you've ever stood for 20 minutes in a car rental line and waited for a rutabaga to type in your DL info, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

 

[Rebeccascabinet]

I second the Hertz Gold. My hubby used to work for IBM and he had a company gold card from hertz and it was great. I also like to fly Frontier Airlines and for the hotel I like Hilton because they have tons of hotel brands under their umbrella and yes, I am on reward points for frontier airlines and the hilton. It adds up fast. I want to take hubby next year to vegas when he gets back from Iraq and I am using my hilton points to pay for our hotel room (unfortunately not enough frontier points for a free flight, but oh well).

 

[jbachen]

I just wanted to say, I recently went to Vegas through travelocity, and the initial booking was great - I booked online, and got a good deal. However, we ended up missing the flight, and trying to call them directly to re-schedule was a nightmare! The agents do not speak English well at all (we started joking that during the NUMEROUS times she was putting me on hold for minutes at a time she was taking the recording of my call to a translator), and when I didn't book the first deal I was offered and tried to call back two minutes later after discussing it with my husband, the new operator couldn't find the previous deal I had been offered, or anything remotely close to it! I got different stories from each different person I talked to, and it took me HOURS to resolve the issue. I was just thinking if you needed to have any flexibility in your plans, as you were doing the travel for work, a travel agent might be better than an online company.

 

[dianevill]

Kacey's thread reminded me to come back and thank everyone for their advice. I really appreciate it! I am flying next week to Connecticut - I used Travelocity this time around. I checked Northwest directly and they were $300 higher for the same flight. I am excited to be going, but my child care plan fell through the floor, so I'm scrambling to find someone for the kids.

I talked with some of the other employees and none of them uses a travel agent. They mostly use Travelocity, Expedia and Orbitz.

I am using Hertz Gold for the car - thank you for that lovely tip!!

Thanks again to everyone. I really love this site (although my DH isn't very fond - LOL!)