|
One of the few advantages of business travel is being able to combine personal stops when you’re on the road. Notification of personal segments to your business trip can save you the hassles of re-booking and allow you to change plans especially when you have a non-refundable event or ticket. Since offering a new vacation booking service at Bard Travel located in San Jose, California, clients have started to enjoy the convenience when combining both sides of travel. Travel agents offer some much needed advice on, “What a traveler should know when mixing Business with Pleasure”. The average person may find it easy to research side trips online, but when it comes to making the actual arrangements, travelers are looking for relevant information and convenience. Because business travel can change in an instant, our clients look to us to ensure synchronization between the two. Canceled or delayed flights can mean trouble for additional portions of a business trip not booked by your business travel agent, says James, a 20 year veteran at Bard Travel. One of our travelers, Sarah M. needed to go to Europe on business asked us to add a personal flight and hotel stay to her trip. Unfortunately, she missed her flight leaving the country which meant re-booking an entire trip. Since she made her personal travel arrangements with Bard Travel and not independently, I was able to get a refund on her non-refundable hotel and use company contracted pricing to change and lower the cost of her new flight. Business travel agents, most often have the authority to book personal stopovers with business travel and in some case can use company discounts and negotiated rates that you can’t find with online vendors. Travel agents can support your business trip and personal segments with no additional cost to you or the company, customer care controls will save time spent searching for the best price, re-booking charges, and properly coordinated travel arrangements to your business trip. Back in the day, combining a business trip with a personal stop was easy and saved companies money as all the lowest fares required a Saturday night stay, so staying over the weekend at your business location or going somewhere else was still far cheaper with that Saturday night stay. Nowadays, this only works staying in the same destination as your business trip because the low cost carriers have made the major airlines lose the Saturday night stay requirement in most markets. Most fares are now one way fares especially in any market where there’s a low cost carrier involved. For example, you could stay a few days extra in New York as long as your return flight doesn't cost the company any more than if you left when your business was completed. The agents at Bard Travel have learned that putting client needs first and the traveler second, but can come to a solution that benefits both.
Related Articles -
Business Travel, Business Travel Agent,
|
