In-person connections have always been a key driver of business travel. Not long ago, the purpose behind that travel mainly revolved around closing a deal or touching base with an existing customer.
But the pandemic transformed many traditional business travel patterns. And with the rise of hybrid work, the face of the road warriors has changed. Sure, plenty of sales teams still travel to close deals, but now employees of different departments also travel to attend offsites and conventions. And this transformation has elevated the importance of group travel and event travel management.
Read more about how to handle event travel management in this guide: Why Meeting and Event Travel Is Essential.
Events Management Is Key
Group travel — also known as team travel — is booming. According to Navan data, the volume of group travel in October 2023 represented a whopping 51% increase over October 2022. And according to the 2024 Skift survey and report, the No. 1 reason business travelers were planning on taking a trip in 2024 was to “attend conferences/events as a group/team.”
It makes sense that groups want to meet up in person. But making it happen can be logistically tricky: Coordinating all of the elements that go into assembling a group trip requires some serious event travel management skills. Flights, hotels, meals, activities, ground transportation, venue reservations: They’re tough enough to organize for a few travelers; it’s much more complicated for a team of 40 or 50.
The travel manager, or whoever is in charge of events management, can easily become overwhelmed.
Read more about how to handle event travel management in this guide: Why Meeting and Event Travel Is Essential.
The Right Tools for Event Travel Management
Some companies opt to plan and book events without dedicated software. They communicate with email or Slack groups while tracking spending on spreadsheets.
Other companies do use event software. While this represents a step up, it can still result in endless back-and-forth communications to ensure everything is happening as planned. It also means a lot of manual work, which is prone to errors and reduces visibility into travelers’ status.
The most effective way to handle events management is with an intuitive tool that’s part of a larger T&E solution, such as Navan’s Team Travel tool.
This tool offers features designed to save travel managers time and money. Event travel is not only easy to set up, but travel managers can also define trip parameters that ensure policy compliance. They can even get real-time visibility into cost.
Once the event is in the system, attendees get a notice to book their own travel on Navan’s user-friendly platform. And organizers can see signups unfold in real time, so they don’t have to waste time checking in with individual travelers.
In all, Navan’s system is a much more efficient way of handling the way road warriors are traveling today.
These are just some of the learnings you’ll find in this guide: Why Meeting and Event Travel Is Essential.