Travel Manager Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Are you searching for a travel manager job description? Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of a travel manager. Feel free to use our travel manager job description template to produce your own travel manager job description. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as a travel manager.
Who is a Travel Manager?
A Travel Manager oversees corporate travel policies and meets a person, group, or company’s travel needs. They may create a company’s travel policy, manage travel plans, assist in selecting the best corporate travel agency for the firm, organize and track travel costs, and watch out for the safety of business travelers, among other things. A travel manager reviews data following a journey and applies it to simplify and enhance subsequent travel. They need the correct set of skills to excel in the job.
The primary duty of a travel manager is to ensure that internal staff members or external clients arrive at their travel destinations on schedule and with the appropriate accommodations. This includes doing location and service research, making hotel, airfare, and vehicle rental reservations, planning activities, and handling paperwork.
Travel managers use the corporate resolution process and communicate with all necessary parties to assist in the settlement of any issues with travel or lodgings.
There are two types of travel managers:
Internal: Managing corporate travel is one of the many duties of the internal travel manager, typically a member of the HR or finance departments. Internal travel managers may work in startups or SMEs because of financial constraints and infrequent business visits.
External: An external travel manager is more knowledgeable about business travel and has stronger connections in the sector. They can work onsite or remotely. These travel managers may work independently or as employees of a travel management company; an organization that offers services to meet the demands of businesses in the travel industry.
A travel manager does more than organize trips. They need to be strategic thinkers and may have to study travel regulations to meet the demands of the business.
Travel Manager Job Description
What is a travel manager job description? A travel manager job description is simply a list of duties and responsibilities of a travel manager in an organization. Below are the travel manager job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write a travel manager job description for your employee. Employers can also use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.
The duties and responsibilities of the travel manager include the following:
- Administer tasks to travel agents or employees under their control.
- Contract negotiations with tourism and hospitality service suppliers like hotels, auto rentals, and airlines.
- Create, plan, and put into effect a business travel policy, objectives, and plans.
- Ensure adherence to all applicable travel regulations and procedures.
- Make suggestions for enhancing and innovating travel programs.
- Manage the interaction between the company and the hired travel agency.
- Oversee travel arrangements in a company or agency.
- Maintain dependable connections with tour operators and suppliers.
- Monitor the employee reimbursement process, including system management and continuous processing support.
- Purchase tickets and check your spending
- Spearhead the operation of the company’s credit card program, including provider relations management.
- Work collaboratively with stakeholders and specialists to pinpoint risks, find solutions, and manage business issues.
Qualifications
- A bachelor’s degree in tourism, hospitality, or a related field
- Years of experience in the tourism sector. It may span from 3-5 years or more
- Experience in a supervisory role (Optional, but preferable)
- Certification in tourism or hospitality
- Practical knowledge of foreign travel laws and currencies (Optional but highly recommended)
- Familiarity with MS Office and GDS systems
Essential Skills
Below are the skills to help you excel as a travel manager:
- Budgeting
- Communication
- Customer-oriented
- Data Analysis
- Flexibility
- Negotiation
- Leadership
- Risk Management
- Tech Savvy
- Organization
- Social Media Marketing
- Language Skills
Budgeting
Planning your company’s financial spending is known as budgeting. Budgets for expenditures linked to travel, including hotels and flights, sometimes need to be created by travel managers. To make any required budget adjustments, they must also keep track of their expenditures throughout the year. For instance, a travel manager may opt to alter their strategy or bargain with hotels for lower rates if they are in a group or discover that they routinely overpay for hotel rooms in a city.
No matter what sector you work in, a successful manager has to have a minimal understanding of finances and budgeting. Knowing how much it costs to run a business compared to how much money you can make from each trip you sell can help you increase your chances of making a profit if you are a freelancer.
Communication
The ability to pass a message or information is communication. You could have to communicate with customers, vendors, and other team members as a travel manager. You can establish trust with people and ensure everyone knows what they expect with communication skills.
Customer-oriented
Travel managers should have strong customer service skills to deliver top-notch client service. Customers may require your interaction in person, over the phone, via email, and in other ways. Good customer service skills may help you deal with problems when traveling or interacting with clients.
Data Analysis
Data analysis involves finding trends and patterns in data. Travel managers may use this skill when analyzing sales, client feedback, and other business information to decide how their organization may enhance its travel. For instance, a travel manager may examine information on hotel reservations to see ratings and reviews of guests who have used the hotels. The travel manager may use this information to choose where to send staff for training or work-related purposes.
Flexibility
Being flexible is having the capacity to change course or adapt when necessary. To satisfy your company’s goals and ensure that all its employees have access to the resources they need for their trips, you may need to be adaptable as a travel manager. When making financial or itinerary plans, you must also be flexible because unforeseen circumstances can lead these plans to change.
Negotiation
A travel manager must be able to bargain with many companies to provide their customers with a competitive rate given that websites sell unsold hotel rooms for a fraction of the price. When putting up a trip package for a customer, you can expect to bargain prices with a concession that their specific hotel or airline would be your first pick. Given how competitive the tourism and hospitality market is, you should be ready to give potential partners your best offer.
Leadership
It should go without saying that you need to have a certain level of leadership experience to be a competent leader. When arranging a future trip for a customer or staff, your subordinates should be able to depend on you to resolve any issues. To set a positive example for those who work under you, you must be able to handle the pressures of overbooked hotels and disgruntled clients.
Risk Management
The efficient operation of a company’s travel plans and itineraries is the responsibility of the travel manager. They employ their risk management abilities to spot possible problems that can occur when traveling, such as airline cancellations or weather delays. When organizing travel, travel managers also apply risk management by noting the security of the locations, modes of transportation, and lodging.
Tech-savvy
A travel manager needs to be technologically savvy given the rapidly evolving world of internet travel booking. To provide your customers with the best experience possible from when they plan their trip until they get home, you should become familiar with the most recent technologies in the travel business. If you remain on top of it now, you’ll be more prepared since the technology component of the travel business will only get more complex in the years to come.
Organization
Organization skill is the capacity to arrange several duties and obligations and handle them at a set time. A travel manager needs this skill to organize many trips at once. Additionally, you must keep track of all the information about your clients, including their travel plans, payments, and other specifics. You can manage your workload more effectively and guarantee that you give your customers exceptional service by being well-organized.
Social Media Marketing
A travel manager should be aware of the benefits of social media marketing. This has emerged as one of the most effective strategies to expose your company to as many people as you can. It has replaced the conventional way of promoting one’s business in modern society. If you have even one satisfied customer, they will be more inclined to post about it on their preferred social networking platform, along with a link to your company, which is the best kind of advertisement, especially as it is free.
Language Skills
Learning different languages, especially the basics like greetings and compliments, will be great in this career because you will come across people from ethnic backgrounds who speak various languages. You will have access to a whole new market if you can provide these potential customers the convenience of working face-to-face with someone who not only understands them but also speaks their language.
How to Become a Travel Manager
Being a travel manager may lead to a very fulfilling profession. It provides the chance to work in various businesses, interact with different people, and travel to new locations.
A person who wants to become a travel manager could take the following path to do so:
Step One: Education
Even while it is not unheard of to land a job as a travel manager with only a high school diploma and the necessary skills, having the appropriate college degree increases your chances. This includes a bachelor’s degree in a related field, such as hospitality or tourism. Additionally, a master’s degree in tourism or hospitality will give you a competitive advantage, as some companies may require it for the role.
Step Two: Training
You may want to look for additional, more specific training and certification from reputable organizations in the industry. You will acquire knowledge and abilities in various travel and tourism-related fields.
Additionally, you may study GDS (Global Distribution System). It is a reservation tool that travel agents use, so mastering it is essential if you want to work in the field. Although it is a challenging and intricate system, understanding it will propel you forward in the field.
To give yourself a head start in your career, you can enroll in GDS courses or make sure to receive GDS training when beginning in entry-level roles (more on this in the section below).
Step Three: Network
Getting to know the staff and having them show you the ropes is one of the best methods to get your foot in the door in any field of employment. Attend the appropriate conferences, connect with reputable travel consultants on LinkedIn, and inquire about opportunities with travel agents. Promote yourself and gain knowledge from the best.
Step Four: Experience
Although there aren’t many entry-level roles for travel managers, there are plenty of jobs you may have that will give you the experience you need to advance. Begin by working as a reservation agent for an airline or cruise line business, a travel or sales representative for a travel or tourist agency, or in a position that will introduce you to the industry and provide you with the years of experience you’ll need in the future. After that, you can now be eligible to apply to be a travel manager after gaining the necessary knowledge and experience.
Where to Work as a Travel Manager
Travel managers can find jobs in settings, including embassies, airports, and travel and tourist organizations. They can also operate independently and as freelancers, making them reachable to clients that need their skills.
Travel managers may use the phone and the internet to make plans while working in an office. Although they usually operate during regular business hours, they occasionally work on the weekends and nights to meet clients’ needs.
Travel Manager Salary Scale
Salary ranges for travel managers can differ significantly based on essential aspects, including education, credentials, supplementary skills, work experience, and even the employing organization.
In the United States, a travel manager can earn an average salary of $69,957 per year, which is about $33.63 per hour. This amounts to $5,829 a month or $1,345 every week according to ZipRecruiter. Most travel managers’ salaries currently range between $46,500 to $116,500.
According to Talent.com, the travel manager’s income in the UK is £40,000 per year or £20.51 per hour. More experienced ones earn up to £57,695 yearly, while entry-level ones start at £31,967.
The annual average pay for travel managers in Canada is CA$59,475 or CA$30.50 per hour. More experienced ones earn up to CA$105,483 yearly, while entry-level ones start at CA$46,898.
Australia’s national average for travel managers is AU$76,926 per year or AU$39.45 per hour. More experienced professionals earn up to AU$122,414 per year, while entry-level roles start at AU$75,000.
In Ireland, a travel manager can expect to earn an average annual income of €49,596.
In Germany, a travel manager has average annual pay of €63,084.
A travel manager’s average annual salary in Nigeria ranges from ₦1,200,000 to ₦2,050,900. Possibly more or less.