Many travel managers will not have to work with start-up entrepreneurs, who book and travel differently to other types of business owners and employees. However, the start-up style of thinking may be there inside some younger employees and companies that do not cater to this group may have difficulty getting them to comply with a more traditional policy.
Travel managers must also be aware of these traveller attitudes if the company they work for acquires a start-up. Their behaviour and attitudes to business travel may need to be worked into the travel programme post-acquisition.
How entrepreneurs, and the new type of traveller, work
I'm an entrepreneur and have been so for the last 10 years. Ninety per cent of my personal network is entrepreneurs starting and developing a range of small and bigger start-up businesses. It's interesting to see that both newly-created companies and experienced entrepreneurs running funded start-ups all actually behave more or less the same.
One example of this is how they spend money and, inadvertently, on their travel arrangements. In the start-up community, most of the entrepreneurs have a minimalist approach to how they buy and operate. Their worst nightmare is big contracts that run for several years as these come with big systems, more administration etc. Entrepreneurs want flexible and scalable systems, services and suppliers. It should be easy to get started and to stop. Your younger employees may expect these traits from the companies that you are working with and tools that are offered to them.
I have never heard of a start-up using a travel management company for planning their travel. Most of them use Skype for meetings and the few times per year they need to travel they book their flights online and use Airbnb. Flexible. No contracts. Fast. No administration. You might see that young professionals travel less than others in the company.
Start-ups travel in a different way than many other business travellers, so the services made for the traditional customers do not match this new generation. Travel buyers should be aware of this if the company you work for acquires a start-up and the employees are taken on as a result. In a start-up the founding team normally does everything, so making things easier for them is highly relevant, but it needs to be on their own terms. Similarly, in the way they do business elsewhere, you don't get a small, fast-growing start-up involved in contracts running multiple years so it might take some adjusting to get them understanding and booking in policy. Because they do not look too far into the future the new employees might be prone to booking closer to the departure time. Any tools or services need to be easy to use and get started with.
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Employees from start-ups could work a different way to what you are used to ©JuSun/iStockDon't forget that a small start-up today can become a big company in a few years and the way they think about doing things is different to tradition, which will bring challenges. These are the future business travellers; it is a dynamic and forward-thinking generation to work with.
Understanding the start-up way of travelling
As mentioned I've never heard of an entrepreneur using an agency for planning their travel. Instead they hire freelancers online, use online search engines, look at online travel agents or stay in Airbnb apartments.
I travel a lot for my own business and here is what I normally do before going to a new country.
1. I go to Elance.com and post a job targeted at local virtual assistants based in the country I am visiting.
2. I make a deal with a local virtual assistant, who I pay per hour and only for the time I need.
3. I describe what I need locally, which can be anything from a place to stay to local transportation, getting a SIM card etc.
4. When I arrive in the country that assistant will provide me with a document that contains all the information I need.
5. I also have my assistant on Skype, so anytime I need anything I write and ask. This is a requirement of the original job post and makes it very easy to plan my travel along the way.
Again: it's lean, it's flexible, it's efficient to start and as there's no contract it's easy to end. This doesn't mean that you should move all your bookings online or travel management companies should be converting into offices filled with virtual assistants; I just want to explain how many young professionals are doing things.
The bad news for traditionalists is that the mentality of this group will not change just because they get older or run bigger companies. This is not just about targeting entrepreneurs, but about how a market is changing and developing.
How to make products and services for the future business traveller
There are several parts of my process above that travel buyers and managers can consider when they are tackling how to work with this type of traveller.
Local: An agent or contact that lives in the country I am travelling to means that I get the local knowledge straight away. I don't have to worry about searching for recommendations before or during the trip and it means that when I reach the destination I can get to work right away with the relevant tools and information.
Personal: I might not meet or hear the virtual assistant but their service is personal to me. The information provided has been put together especially for me on this trip based on the requirements that I asked for. If I need to plan something else they are just a call away; it's almost like having a personal assistant or concierge while on the road.
Technology: Websites, apps and devices mean I can instantly make plans how I want to and when I want to. Entrepreneurs and young travellers look online for their travel bookings and information with whatever device is nearest to them at the time; they don't even think about it. If a service isn't available at the time or isn't working properly I'd just look (and potentially book) somewhere else.
Efficiency: If the user needs training, it's not going to work. Any technology or new policy needs to be easy to get started with and simple to use. While on the trip itself it helps to have measures in place that make being in another country as stress free as possible.
Modernise: Start-ups are growing, so services and products should scale with the user. This stands for the younger travellers too — if the companies they book holidays through have developed their technology or service then they will expect the same from a corporate tool.
This example should give you a good idea about the mentality many entrepreneurs have. My fellow entrepreneurs and young professionals like to travel differently to other business people and managers should think about how they are going to integrate them into their policies.