Offering payment flexibility to companies while at the same time ensuring the health and wellness of business travellers, has become a top priority for travel experts during COVID-19 times.
Businesses across the world have had to adopt a flexible mindset in terms of business goals, team management and budgets for the 2020 year, as well as prioritise the health and safety of their employees.
The COVID-19 pandemic has seen businesses pivot and adjust their business goals to tie in with the new COVID normal. Team dynamics have changed as managers were suddenly faced with a remote workforce and increased health and wellness concerns of employees. Lastly, company budgets have required a flexible and innovative approach to ensure enough cashflow is available to take businesses through these tough times.
As part of Flight Centre Business Travel’s ‘Back on Track’ campaign, the FCBT team aims to help businesses get back on the road by mitigating these concerns. The team is offering support and reassurance, expertise, advice as well as flexible payment options.
The travel management company (TMC) recently launched a new simplified fee structure that is entirely transparent and highlights all cost implications upfront. Emergency after-hours assistance, bill-back facilities, changes and group bookings are all included in one transparent price.
FCBT has also intensified its focus on the traveller’s health and wellbeing by looking at the entire journey, the challenges faced and workable ways to mitigate them. The FCBT travel experts are focused on not only keeping their travellers safe, but also the travellers’ families and the wider population.
A traveller might be fit and healthy but returning to a family member with co-morbidities. Cue a heightened focus on a client’s destination (what is the current COVID-19 situation on the ground?), accommodation options (are the necessary health and safety protocols in place?), the traveller’s own circumstances (if they have an underlying health condition, should your travel policy allow them to travel?) and the mental toll of travelling in the current climate.
Oz Desai, GM FCBT, believes there are number of ways TMCs can help travellers navigate business travel in a post-COVID world, including:
- Putting health and wellness front and centre
- Considering mental wellbeing as well as physical health
- Keeping an open line of communication
- Never compromising on duty of care
FCBT’s online travel resource hub, part of their ‘Back on Track campaign’, supports travellers and companies with additional information and relevant facts, ranging from hotel procedures, the opening of borders, airport guidelines and much more. Knowledge is power, and by demystifying the current red tape associated with business travel and by providing solid advice around health and wellness, FCBT gives travellers added peace of mind.
“The FCBT travel specialists are real people who are facing the same concerns as our clients when it comes to travelling,” says Desai, “With health and wellness a top priority we can help clients make the best decisions for themselves and their team.”