GUEST BLOG: The increasing need to meet duty of care obligations to achieve travellers’ satisfaction

Business travel has become an integral and normal part of working for an organisation. Organisations must demonstrate and ensure that employees’ health and safety and risk are properly assessed and delivered whilst traveling on any business trip.

Traveller’s safety and security concerns tend to focus on high profile issues including terrorist incidents, kidnapping and the danger of environmental disasters. Less dramatic but much more usual are medical incidents and road accidents.

Statistically, it is very unlikely that a traveller will suffer any accident. However, the study conducted by ACTE - Meeting the Modern Business Traveller - shows that 65% of business bookers have received a considerable increase in travelers queries about personal safety whilst traveling on business , particularly from Millennials.

The majority of travel managers may prioritise security of personal and financial data, passenger insurance, vehicle licence, journey tracking and service provider’s background check as vital information to ensure travellers duty of care. However, from a traveler perspective, the entire journey from home to hotel seems be the priority while analysing duty of care issues.

Another piece of research , The Return on Investment Refresh: Travel as a Competitive Advantage study shows that frequency of business travel is directly related to business growth, meaning that companies are traveling more extensively and frequently  requiring travel managers and suppliers to provide services that go beyond general safety concerns.

Because the ground transport element of the trip is the most dangerous it is vital for companies to vet services providers in order to ensure that duty of care responsibilities is met. Also, by developing a personalised quality service, traveler’s perception of service quality and therefore safety is very likely to increase.

For this, regular control checks are needed. Driver’s understanding of the company’s standards and requirements, pre-travel security and safety advice, knowledge of local and well-known areas, emergency services, and safe driving procedures and techniques are essential features for high quality ground transport services.

Ultimately, to provide customers duty of care, it is important for travel suppliers to ensure their employees understand passenger’s wants, requirements and the issues that might negatively impact traveller’s satisfaction and do everything they can to provide a safe travel experience.

This post has been written by Groundscope who are exhibiting at the Business Travel Show 22-23 February 2017. To register for a free pass, please visit www.businesstravelshow.com