A “Before You Go” Checklist for Business Travelers

In the past 12 months, more than 30 million flights have been booked in Concur Travel. Although every organization has its road warriors, many employees book, go on, and expense just a handful of trips each year. In addition, as younger generations enter the workforce and begin to rise through the ranks, a bit more preparation may initially be required before a business trip, compared to business travel veterans in the workplace.

At SAP Concur, we strive to make getting on the road easier and more engaging for our customers. This includes creating resources, like templates and lists, that our customers can customize and repurpose for their employees to use. To support most business travelers, who have varying levels of experience and familiarity with traveling for work, we’ve created a go-to checklist that travel managers and HR partners can share with employees for reference.

Preparation

• Get familiar with your company’s business travel policies.
  • Tip: If repurposing this checklist as a company resource, consider hyperlinking to your business travel policies for convenience! Need travel policy guidance? Our latest template can be found here.
• Learn how to use your company’s booking tools, like Concur Travel.
  • Tip: Make it easy for your employees to find training materials. We offer training resources for current customers at www.concursolutions.com.
• Confirm travel dates, destination, and budget.
• Ensure your forms of identification are up to date.
• Research the safety of your destination to guide transportation and hotel options.
• Research the requirements of your destination, such as visas for international travel, and associated timelines, then plan accordingly.
• Develop a detailed schedule for the trip, with cushion built in to ensure you arrive everywhere a bit early, and adjust as needed throughout the booking process.

Booking

• Develop a proposed itinerary for transportation and accommodations.
• Coordinate with colleagues who will be traveling with you.
• Submit your itinerary for review, as required.
• Once accepted, reconfirm plans with your traveling colleagues.
• Book your travel plans based on the approved itinerary through your company’s preferred booking tools, such as Concur Travel, or directly with your organization’s preferred travel suppliers via TripLink.
• Share your travel plans with colleagues via TripIt Pro (included with TripLink)—both those who are traveling with you as well as those who aren’t but could be impacted by your availability.

Planning and Packing

• Familiarize yourself with local emergency numbers, nearby medical facilities, and any considerations associated with your medical and dental coverage.
• Ensure you know who to reach and how to get ahold of them should an issue arise, whether travel disruptions or a health and safety issue.
• Research local culture and customs, if different from your own.
• Identify food options that align with your dietary considerations, travel schedule, and budget, making reservations as needed.
• Determine a reliable method of transportation for getting to and from airports.
• Check the weather and plan accordingly.
• Make a packing list to ensure that nothing important gets left behind, including important tech, chargers, storage devices, medications, and presentations or documents for meetings.
• Make sure you have access to everything you need to be comfortable and productive during the trip, such as comfortable clothing, compression socks, walking shoes, a seatbelt extender, medication, WiFi or hotspot, a laptop and charger, a phone charger, your to-do list, a water bottle, snacks, etc.
• Travel with carry-on luggage, if possible, to avoid risk of checked luggage issues at your destination. Familiarize yourself with any luggage size and weight limits.
• Arrange assistance from your airline as needed, if traveling in a wheelchair or with other specific needs. Label your wheelchair and other mobility aids with your name and contact information and take photos.
• If traveling with a service animal, research the documentation requirements of your airline.
• Save all critical addresses, including hotels and the locations of any meetings or events, and confirmation details on your phone, and write them down as backup. Keep track of travel plans on your phone with an app like TripIt.
• Develop a personal system for tracking expenses that aligns with company policy. Consider using technology like the ExpenseIt feature within the SAP Concur mobile app.

While a bit lengthy, our hope is that this “before you go” checklist will make the business travel experience easier for those who use it.

For more resources to help with travel program management, check out our Resource Center.