What does a Travel Manager do?
The duties of a travel manager depend on their industry or place of employment. In general, they are in charge of making travel plans and arrangements for an organization's work-related trips. Their responsibilities include setting objectives, managing budgets and schedules, preparing travel accommodations and itineraries, gathering employee information, preparing and processing travel documents, and performing research and analysis to find the ideal travel services. Moreover, a travel manager must monitor the progress of all procedures and resolve issues should any arise.
Travel manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real travel manager resumes:
- Negotiate fares and manage reservations for group participants using a limit budget and contract agreements with airlines
- Arrange VIP travel on corporate jet and communicate with pilot to ensure efficient scheduling.
- Handle VIP travel on corporate jet and work closely with pilot to ensure efficient time schedules.
- Help with converting browser base implementation to a completely WPF implementation, resulting in thrice the speed and performance gain.
- Implement automated on-line travel booking via Internet.
- Collaborate with international sites to implement their internet base travel booking tool.
- Prepare detailed itineraries upon bookings to ensure accuracy of reservations and provide confirmation to clients.
- Negotiate fares and manage reservations for group participants using a limit budget and contract agreements with airlines
- Work on Worldspan operating system at headquarters.
- Train the agents on Amex policies and tools.
Travel manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 11% of Travel Managers are proficient in Booking, Reservations, and Customer Service. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Customer-service skills, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Travel Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Booking, 11%
Implemented and assumed full management responsibilities for electronic booking system for Domestic US based employees.
- Reservations, 7%
Negotiated and communicated with Company's designated travel agency for backup reservations support, quality control and management.
- Customer Service, 6%
Provided exceptional customer service and department management while simultaneously executing innovative strategies to increase client retention and expand customer base.
- Travel Industry, 5%
Remained knowledgeable of travel industry trends and new business developments required to support the organization.
- Card Program, 5%
Administered Corporate Card Program, including reconciliation of monthly BTA statement and compliance monitoring.
- Hotel Reservations, 4%
Use computerized reservation system to process payments, book transportation and hotel reservations and print required documentation for customer.
Most travel managers use their skills in "booking," "reservations," and "customer service" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential travel manager responsibilities here:
Communication skills. One of the key soft skills for a travel manager to have is communication skills. You can see how this relates to what travel managers do because "travel agents must listen to clients’ travel needs and offer travel advice and information that meet those needs." Additionally, a travel manager resume shows how travel managers use communication skills: "manage resort updates for company website customer service management - direct communication with couples to manage/resolve concerns"
Customer-service skills. Many travel manager duties rely on customer-service skills. "travel agents must be able to interact with clients and respond to questions and complaints in a friendly, professional manner.," so a travel manager will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways travel manager responsibilities rely on customer-service skills: "travel with management team to various trade shows in chicago; assist with customer relations"
Detail oriented. This is an important skill for travel managers to perform their duties. For an example of how travel manager responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "travel agents must ensure that the reservations they make are for the dates, times, and locations that match travelers’ schedules." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a travel manager: "created detailed group travel itineraries to scandinavia, russia and the baltic countries. ".
Organizational skills. For certain travel manager responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "organizational skills." The day-to-day duties of a travel manager rely on this skill, as "travel agents often work on itineraries for many clients at once." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what travel managers do: "performed multiple tasks and organizational skills enhanced communication and customer service skills developed and organized sales material to increase client base. "
Sales skills. A commonly-found skill in travel manager job descriptions, "sales skills" is essential to what travel managers do. Travel manager responsibilities rely on this skill because "travel agents must be able to persuade clients to buy transportation, lodging, or tours." You can also see how travel manager duties rely on sales skills in this resume example: "prepared financial reports and sales activity utilizing advanced formulas in excel. "
The three companies that hire the most travel managers are:
- Accenture63 travel managers jobs
- 84 Lumber9 travel managers jobs
- Fairstead7 travel managers jobs
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Compare different travel managers
Travel manager vs. Cruise counselor
As corporate travel agents, they primarily work to coordinate all travel-related concerns such, reservation, flight cancellations, itinerary adjustments, and other unanticipated circumstances happen. They work in travel agencies or departments handling personnel travel details. It is part of their tasks to search and negotiate the lowest possible rates for group business trips. They often work full time in an office setting, but some prefer to work remotely since much of their time is spent on the computer and phones. Moreover, they also gave recommendations concerning weather conditions, local norms, and sightseeing attractions.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between travel managers and cruise counselor. For instance, travel manager responsibilities require skills such as "card program," "hotel reservations," "cost savings," and "global travel program." Whereas a cruise counselor is skilled in "customer calls," "credit card," "sales strategies," and "customer relations." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Cruise counselors tend to reach similar levels of education than travel managers. In fact, cruise counselors are 2.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Travel manager vs. Tour agent
A travel service consultant is responsible for recommending travel packages and other related travel services upon determining clients' needs and budget limitations. Travel service consultants manage travel plans and ensure that the clients won't have any problems from transportation to accommodation. They also inform the clients of every destination and itinerary that will serve as an overall guide. A travel service consultant must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in informing the clients of possible delays such as weather inconsistencies or flight cancellations.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, travel manager responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "booking," "travel industry," "card program," and "cost savings." Meanwhile, a tour agent has duties that require skills in areas such as "telephone messages," "sales floor," "data entry," and "crs." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Tour agents tend to reach similar levels of education than travel managers. In fact, they're 2.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Travel manager vs. Corporate travel consultant
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, travel managers are more likely to have skills like "card program," "travel arrangements," "global travel program," and "policy compliance." But a corporate travel consultant is more likely to have skills like "excellent client," "onsite," "customer issues," and "sabre gds."
Corporate travel consultants typically earn similar educational levels compared to travel managers. Specifically, they're 3.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Travel manager vs. Travel service consultant
Even though a few skill sets overlap between travel managers and travel service consultants, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a travel manager might have more use for skills like "card program," "cost savings," "global travel program," and "policy compliance." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of travel service consultants require skills like "airline reservations," "car rentals," "credit card payments," and "reservation system. "
Travel service consultants reach similar levels of education compared to travel managers, in general. The difference is that they're 1.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of travel manager
Updated January 8, 2025
