Lead - Travel Operations

Manage travel operations as part of the Global Shared Services for all company employees and guests which include the travel and stay related activities including visa and insurance generation in order to ensure safe, comfortable and cost efficient services to the employees and the guests.

Key Accountabilities:

Accountability Cluster Major Activities / Tasks:

- Manage and maintain all travel related processes and systems in order to ensure that travel bookings and related activities are done and communicated to the employee to meet their travel plan in a timely and cost effective way. - Manage and attend to all travels requests in a timely manner in order to close all the requests within the stipulated time

- Review that the flight options shared with the employees are accurate to ensure cost effectiveness and meet the TOT related to the same

- Ensure that tickets are issued on corporate rates wherever applicable in order to get the benefits of free date change, meals, cancelation fee etc.

- Monitor flights status and check for alternative itinerary with lower fare and better connection in order to benefit both passenger and company for applicable cases

- Negotiate with the airline for lower fares wherever possible in order to ensure cost savings on travel

- Communicate the travel itinery and all other related information to the employee in order to manage the travel plan effectively and avoid any communication gaps

- Operate 24-7 desk in order to ensure business needs are met at all times and when needed

- Book tickets & hotel within the policy and eligibility criteria in order to comply with the set regulations

- Provide travel Insurance to all employees in order to ensure their safety and security

- Oversee timely submission of VISA in order to ensure that the visas are processed on time and that the travel takes place as per schedule.

- Manage the booking and negotiations for hotels by organizing a corporate tie up with good hotels in order to ensure cost effective options for the employees and help in overall cost saving. - Negotiate corporate rates for hotels by collaborating with the sales team in order to get a cost advantage for employees on hotel prices lower than the market with added benefits and advantages like daily office transfers and last minute cancellation etc.

- Monitor and track the hotel bookings done for employees by making sure they are booked in the corporate tied up hotels for better control on bookings and cost saving

- Book on the best available rate for hotel by evaluating and comparing rates received from multiple hotel vendor's in order to book on the best available rate.

- Outsource car and hotel bookings in order to improve efficiency of services and save costs - Identify agencies that will manage hotel and Car bookings in order to create an outsourced model for the same to provide timely, efficient and cost effective services

- Negotiate and maintain contracts with them in order to abide by the SLA's and abide by the set rules

- Manage the travel desk by ensuring 24-7 availability in order to ensure that travel desk operation runs in a smooth and uninterrupted manager. - Manage and support the customers (employees) 24-7 by being available on calls and ensuring timely response through email for all travel related work

- Coordinate with agents (hotel ticketing desk etc.) after office hours and on holidays in order to get urgent bookings completed.

Major Challenges:

- Deviation from the existing travel policy leads to rework of itinerary bookings

- Overcome by : Ensuring the same does not happen by communicating and raising it to the concerned

Key Interactions:

Internal External:

- All Employees on a daily basis for travel related assistance like tickets, Forex, Visa, Insurance etc.

- HR function for approval for employee traveling on work permit as and when required or any deviation to policy on a need basis.

- iExpense team on a need basis for any queries - Travel vendor for international and domestic tickets on a daily basis

- Insurance vendor for cancelation of policy/issuing policy for 60 year and above/ claims on a need basis

- VISA agents for visa application documentation on a daily basis.

- Approx. 20 hotel on a weekly base and around 34 deports for hotel and guest house booking as and when required.

- FX agent on a daily basis

- Airline for seat confirmation and lower fare negotiations etc on a regular basis

Key Decisions:

Decisions Recommendations:

- Ticketing on available fare New Hotel contract approval from the reporting manager

- Routine sign offs on VISA letter and the cost Booking fares that exceed a particular amount

- Authority to book in a hotel with higher rate in case the bookings are full everywhere else