Smarter Ways to Manage Non-Employee Travel

Your company's travel program doesn't just serve your employees. It also serves a growing and diverse group of non-employee travelers: the freelance consultant flying in for a critical project, the promising job candidate for a final-round interview, the guest speaker for your annual conference, the board member attending a quarterly meeting. For many companies, this "guest travel" is managed in an ad-hoc, inconsistent, and often chaotic manner. This isn't just inefficient; it's a missed opportunity to project a professional image and a significant source of uncontrolled spending.

A clunky, manual process for guest travel creates a poor first impression and a frustrating experience. Expecting a top job candidate to book their own flight and hotel, pay for it with their own money, and then navigate a confusing reimbursement process is hardly a "white-glove" welcome. Similarly, a high-value consultant's time is too valuable to be spent on administrative travel tasks.

There is a smarter way. By leveraging modern technology and a thoughtful, centralized approach, you can design a non-employee travel program that is both impressively professional and highly controlled. This guide provides a strategic framework for how to manage non-employee travel in a way that enhances your company's brand and provides complete financial visibility.

The Problem with the "Old Way" of Guest Travel

The traditional approach to guest travel is typically a manual, decentralized process managed by a recruiter or an executive assistant.

The Process: It usually involves a long email chain to determine the guest's travel preferences. The guest is often asked to book their own travel and submit an invoice or receipts for reimbursement.
The Pain Points:
- Poor Guest Experience: The guest is burdened with the logistics of booking and, more significantly, the financial burden of paying for the trip out-of-pocket and waiting for reimbursement. This can be particularly stressful for a job candidate.
- Lack of Cost Control: When the guest books on their own, they have no knowledge of your company's travel policy. They will book on consumer websites, often at the last minute, and you have no control over the price they pay.
- No Visibility: You have no idea what has been spent until you receive an invoice, which makes it impossible to track costs against a project or recruiting budget in real time.
- Heavy Administrative Burden: Your internal team (recruiters, admins, finance) spends a huge amount of time on the back-and-forth communication, coordination, and manual processing of invoices and reimbursements.

The Modern Framework: A Centralized, "Arranger-Led" Model

The modern solution is to bring your non-employee travel into your managed travel program. This is achieved by using a travel management platform that supports a "guest booking" or "travel arranger" model.

Step 1: Designate a "Travel Arranger"

The first step is to designate a specific person within your company to be the point of contact for guest travel. This could be a recruiter for candidates, a project manager for consultants, or an executive assistant for board members. This person will "own" the booking process for the guest.

Step 2: Leverage a "Guest Booking" Feature

A sophisticated travel management platform like Routespring is essential for this process. The platform should allow your designated arranger to easily book travel on behalf of an external guest.

How it Works:
1. Create a Guest Profile: The arranger gathers the guest's essential travel information (full legal name, date of birth, contact info, and any travel preferences) and creates a temporary "guest profile" in the travel platform. This does not require creating a full employee account in your HR system.
2. Book as the Guest: The arranger can then access the online booking tool as if they were the guest. They can see all the same flight and hotel options and can collaborate with the guest to choose the best itinerary.
3. Apply a Specific Policy: The platform should allow you to create a specific travel policy for non-employees. The arranger can apply this "guest policy" to the booking, ensuring that the flights and hotels selected are compliant with your company's guidelines for non-employee travel. This is how you control non-employee travel costs effectively.
The Benefits:
- A "White-Glove" Experience: You are handling all the logistics for your guest. They do not have to do anything but provide their details and preferences. This creates a highly professional and impressive experience.
- Maintained Control: The booking is made within your managed travel program, so you retain full control over policy compliance and cost.

Step 3: Use Centralized Payments to Eliminate Reimbursements

This is the most critical step for improving the guest experience.

How it Works: When the arranger makes the booking in the platform, the payment is made directly by the company using a centralized payment method. The guest never has to use their own credit card for flights or hotels.
The Benefits:
- No Financial Burden on the Guest: This is a huge relief for candidates or contractors.
- No Invoices or Reimbursements for Major Costs: Your finance team does not have to process a large invoice for a flight. The transaction is already captured, reconciled, and coded in your travel platform.

Step 4: Tag Bookings for Precise Cost Allocation

How do you know how much you are spending on travel for recruiting versus travel for consulting projects?

How it Works: A modern travel platform allows you to create custom "trip tags" or "cost centers." When the arranger books a trip for a job candidate, they can tag it with "Recruiting." When they book for a consultant, they can tag it with the specific "Project XYZ" code.
The Benefits: This provides incredibly granular data. At the end of the quarter, your finance team can run a report and see the exact, total travel spend for the recruiting department or for a specific client project. This is invaluable for budgeting, ROI analysis, and client billing.

Step 5: Streamline Communication

How it Works: Once a trip is booked, the travel platform should automatically send a professional, branded itinerary confirmation directly to the guest's email address. The arranger can also add a personal note with other important details, like the office address, their direct contact number for any issues, and the interview schedule.
The Benefits: This provides the guest with a single, clear, and professional source of information for their entire trip, reducing confusion and last-minute questions.

Managing non-employee travel does not have to be a chaotic and expensive process. By moving away from a manual, decentralized model and embracing a centralized, arranger-led approach powered by a modern travel management platform, you can create a system that is a "win-win-win." Your guests have a seamless and professional experience, your internal teams are freed from a heavy administrative burden, and your company gains complete control and visibility over a significant area of spend.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What information do we need to collect from a non-employee to book their travel? You will need their full legal name exactly as it appears on their government-issued ID (which they will use for travel), their date of birth (required by airlines for security), and their contact email and phone number. It is also helpful to ask about any airline or hotel loyalty programs they belong to and their seating preference.

2. Is it better to have the guest book themselves or to have an internal arranger book for them? For non-employees, the "white-glove" service of having an internal arranger handle the booking is generally a better experience. It removes all logistical burdens from the guest. However, some platforms do offer a "guest booking link" feature, where you can send a secure link to the guest that allows them to book their own travel within a pre-set policy. This can be a good option for groups of guests, like speakers at a conference.

3. How do we handle on-trip expenses like meals for non-employees? While flights and hotels should be paid for centrally, on-trip expenses are typically handled via reimbursement. Provide the guest with a clear per-diem limit for meals in advance. After the trip, they can submit their itemized receipts to your designated arranger, who can then process the reimbursement through your company's expense system.

4. Can we use a virtual credit card to pay for a guest's hotel stay? Yes, using a virtual card number (VCN) is an excellent and highly secure way to pay for a guest's hotel. The VCN can be generated for the exact amount of the stay and for the specific dates, which prevents any unauthorized charges. A modern travel platform can automate this process and securely transmit the VCN to the hotel.

5. How do we ensure the safety of our non-employee travelers (Duty of Care)? Your company's Duty of Care obligation extends to anyone traveling on your behalf. By booking all guest travel through your central platform, you automatically enroll them in your travel risk management program. Their itinerary is captured, so you can track their location, and they can be included in any risk alerts or provided with access to your 24/7 emergency support services. This is a critical benefit of a managed approach.