Employee onboarding process for Corporate travel providers: learning each client before booking
A new executive on a corporate desk is booking real trips within days. Without a client brief and a shadowing week, the first errors are paid for by the client.
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Share your requirementsWhy employee onboarding process matters in corporate travel providers
In several providers a new joiner gets a login, a seat beside a senior and a pile of emails. They learn policies by being corrected. Clients spot errors in the first weeks, and the new person loses confidence early.
An onboarding process lists what the new executive must know before touching a live request. That means the booking tools, the policy of each assigned client, the approval chain, the usual errors and who to ask. A week of shadowing and a week of supervised bookings follow. Imagine a new executive who books business class for a client whose policy allows it only on long flights. A client brief would have prevented that.
Travel desks also run on supplier systems that new joiners cannot be trusted with on day one. Airline portals, hotel extranets and the global distribution system each need separate access. Requesting logins late leaves the joiner idle in week one, and sharing a senior's login hides who made which booking.
How to set it up
1. Prepare the client briefs
One page per client with policy, approvers, preferred suppliers and contacts, before the joiner arrives.
2. Spend three days shadowing
Sit with a senior on live requests, then swap and let the newcomer type while the senior watches.
3. Supervise the first bookings
A senior checks each booking for the first week, and notes errors and fixes.
4. Introduce the account manager
A short meeting with the account manager on the client's character, past issues and what the client values most.
5. Request system access early
Raise logins for booking tools and supplier portals before the joining date, in the joiner's own name. Never let a new person work on a senior's login.
6. Teach the error list
Share the common mistakes on your desk: wrong name spelling, missed visa or transit rules, hotel dates off by a day. Give a real, anonymised example for each.
7. Review at day thirty
Desk lead and joiner meet to look at errors, speed and confidence. Professionalism training can follow where needed.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. Use your own records for a defined period and note gaps in the evidence. The review may take longer if records are incomplete or spread across teams.
- Ask a new joiner of last quarter what they wish they had known in week one.
- Check whether client briefs exist and are current.
- Count errors in the first month of recent joiners.
- See whether new joiners met the account manager.
- Whether every new joiner had their own system logins on the first day
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach employee onboarding process in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
Until the senior is comfortable across the main request types. Use error counts and the senior's judgement and not a fixed date.
The desk lead with the account manager, checked by a senior executive. Update them every quarter or when the client changes policy.
Start with email under supervision and move to calls once they are accurate. Clients are kinder to a team that makes few mistakes.
Changes and cancellations on live bookings, and anything involving a refund or a fare difference. Keep these with a senior until the joiner has shown they understand the client policy.
Treat them as new to corporate work. Leisure agents are used to selling, while corporate desks follow client policy and approvals. Start with the client briefs and approval chain before any live booking.
We set up the interview and hiring process for corporate travel providers
Every business interviews, but few have a written process that works the same way for every role and every interviewer. GullyHR designs yours, from the role brief to the offer, trains your managers to run it, and can run it for you on the roles you hand us.