This Tuesday we take a look at business travel and some of the best hacks out there for optimising your time and expenditure.
10 hacks for the business traveller
1. Book an extra day for networking
Kelly Azevedo from She’s Got Systems believes in booking an additional day during business travel for meetings. If you want to network with people in different areas, it’s a good idea to add a day to your travels in order to grow your customer or network base.
2. Prohibited items list
Be sure to download and print a prohibited item list to ensure you aren’t delayed during travel. Something as simple as an aspirin or advil in your bag could see you get a bag check or body search and you stand to face significant fines. In some cases you could even be detained.
3. Don’t pack new clothes or shoes
Many people want to impress others at conferences or meetings with a fresh new look. But this mistake could see you spend the entire day in pain or discomfort. Only pack those items of clothing you know are comfortable and won’t leave you feeling uncomfortable. Trying to wear in your new pair of shoes during an important corporate introduction is an absolute nightmare.
4. Save offline
The greatest issue with travelling to places you don’t know is connectivity – you may not be connected or perhaps your battery has failed. Remember to write down the addresses and details for all your destinations and meetings and save what you can for offline use so you aren’t left out in the cold if technology fails you.
5. Remember to sign out
Although instant messaging applications are great for staying connected on the go, rather sign out of them while you’re travelling for business. This will ensure that you aren’t constantly alerted when people at the office chat and this will limit data usage while on the go. Connect with important people on individual or personal chats.
6. Check your loyalty
We have so many accounts and cards these days, each offering a host of added benefits for its users. But we tend to forget these benefits as we carry on with our lives. Take some time to check what travel, insurance and additional benefits are offered by using your different credit and loyalty cards – you could stand to see significant benefits, or perhaps you’ve already racked up points you weren’t aware of.
7. Eat first!
If you order special meals before flying, chances are you’ll probably receive your food sooner on your flights, and your food will probably be fresher than that served to the rest of the passengers. If eating is important to you, this may be a handy trick to ensure your belly is full.
8. Pre-order the Space Case 1
Planet Traveler is almost ready to introduce their amazing smart travel case to the world.The Space Case 1 which has been listed by CNN as one of the first of seven groundbreaking travel accessories. It features fingerprint opening, global tracking, lift-less self weighing scale, speakerphone and powerbank.
9. Change your status
One nifty trick for getting cheaper flights is by using foreign airlines, but changing your residence on the airline website to their native country. It’s not illegal, but airlines often charge better rates on their home websites.
10. Volunteer to get bumped
Provided you have time on your hands, you could benefit from getting bumped off an overbooked flight voluntarily. Bumped passengers are entitled to cash compensation for your inconvenience. Most airlines will offer double the compensation if you are within two hours late on your second booked flight, and this amount can double again if your next flight is more than two hours later. Be sure to negotiate with the airline before you agree to being bumped, as not all providers offer the same compensation.
That’s it for this edition of #TravelTuesday. We hope this week’s feature will help you on your travels.