How to hire a travel specialist

How to hire a travel specialist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step travel specialist hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a travel specialist job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new travel specialist
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a travel specialist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your travel specialist job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a travel specialist for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A travel specialist's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, travel specialists from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list presents travel specialist salaries for various positions.

   Type of Travel Specialist	Description	Hourly rate
   Travel Specialist	Travel agents sell transportation, lodging, and entertainment activities to individuals and groups planning trips. They offer advice on destinations, plan trip itineraries, and make travel arrangements for clients... Show more	$16-39
   Corporate Travel Consultant	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... Show more	$15-37
   Corporate Travel Counselor	A Corporate Travel Counselor prepares ground travel, hotel, rail travel, and air transport arrangements for customers. They keep accessible online materials to ensure conformity with the client's travel policy... Show more	$18-41

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Reservations
   • Booking
   • Hotel Reservations
   • Customer Issues
   • Travel Authorizations
   • Expense Reports
   • GDS
   • Corporate Travel
   • DTS
   • Ground Transportation
   • Travel Vouchers
   • Credit Card
   • Defense Travel System
   • Travel Industry

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Negotiate contracts, book event/meeting space; manage corporate housing for independent contractors, including RFP's and ROI's.
   • Audit travel reservations and expense reports identifying policy violations and /or potential fraudulent activity, and escalate as necessary.
   • Perform every role from booking hotel/transportation/dining/convention/translation services for a primarily Japanese clientele.
   • Service diverse facets of corporate domestic and international travel for multiple Apollo accounts.
   • Research destinations and assist clients in booking travel arrangements and accommodations, both domestic and international.
   • Coordinate and monitor reservations (domestic and international) to include discount travel from various travel companies.

   More travel specialist duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the travel specialist job description is a good way to get more applicants. A travel specialist salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a travel specialist in Wyoming may be lower than in Indiana, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level travel specialist. Additionally, a travel specialist with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average travel specialist salary

   $54,498yearly

   $26.20 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level travel specialist salary

   $35,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 16, 2025

   Average travel specialist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Washington	$70,097	$34
   2	California	$67,637	$33
   3	District of Columbia	$66,455	$32
   4	Nevada	$63,543	$31
   5	Illinois	$63,178	$30
   6	Iowa	$60,477	$29
   7	Virginia	$55,444	$27
   8	Michigan	$55,075	$26
   9	Massachusetts	$54,641	$26
   10	New York	$53,371	$26
   11	Connecticut	$53,248	$26
   12	Hawaii	$51,406	$25
   13	Colorado	$50,178	$24
   14	Oklahoma	$49,942	$24
   15	Pennsylvania	$49,816	$24
   16	Ohio	$49,058	$24
   17	Rhode Island	$49,041	$24
   18	South Carolina	$46,087	$22
   19	Arkansas	$46,047	$22
   20	Florida	$45,781	$22

   Average travel specialist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Booz Allen Hamilton	$89,845	$43.19
   2	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$89,019	$42.80	16
   3	Tesla	$79,834	$38.38
   4	Baker Hughes	$78,764	$37.87
   5	Nestlé	$66,765	$32.10
   6	XLA	$66,206	$31.83
   7	nou Systems	$63,674	$30.61
   8	Aya Healthcare	$63,127	$30.35
   9	University of Maryland, Baltimore	$59,825	$28.76	3
   10	Norton Sound Health	$59,420	$28.57	2
   11	ARM	$58,405	$28.08
   12	AMC Networks	$56,484	$27.16
   13	John Paul USA	$55,975	$26.91
   14	University of Colorado Boulder	$55,372	$26.62
   15	H.i.s. International Tours (ny) Inc.	$53,752	$25.84
   16	Magna International	$52,882	$25.42	1
   17	Wounded Warrior Project	$51,725	$24.87
   18	Flight Centre	$51,671	$24.84	22
   19	WorldStrides	$51,537	$24.78
   20	University of Alaska	$50,978	$24.51

4. Writing a travel specialist job description

   A good travel specialist job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a travel specialist job description:

   Travel specialist job description example

   Travel & Expenses Specialist with English
   Join multicultural team of one of the leading brands in medical technology sector! This is an excellent opportunity to work within international structure, for a global company that has a mission of helping people see brilliantly.
   
   Travel & Expenses Specialist, you'll be in charge of your own cases of employee travel and business expenses ensuring that they are processed in accordance with the company policy and international regulations and regional guidelines.
   
   Main responsibilities include:
   Support direct manager with the operational tasks related to Travel & Expenses.Responsible to track and update country travel policy and support the market with expense report creation.Control Corporate card applications and follow up with employees with overdue account.Perform timely month end activities, such Accruals, Compliance Controls and Account Reconciliations.Train/ educate employees on how to report their expenses in Concur System.Support T&E team communicating with the country (translations required).Provide feedback and support to key stakeholders. (CFO's, Executive Assistants, frequently flyers, etc) Keep all local procedures updated through Work Instructions, for team backup, and T&E Decks for market self-service support.Perform daily activities according to SLA's and KPI's established.Support all employees queries daily through our ticketing tool, Focusing on critical/high impact tickets.As LPO (Local Process Owner), support and provide feedback to GPO's requests.
   
   Successful candidate profile:
   Proficiency in EnglishAnother European language is a plus Familiar with SSC structures and set up Professional and/or education finance & accounting background will be highly beneficial Quality and focus oriented Team player Strong customer focus, solution-oriented
   
   What's on offer:
   Opportunity to work on best in class Organization among Medical Devices/Equipment sector Opportunity to work in a high paced agile environment Work with people who are passionate of delivering outcomes and a culture of simplification and ownership Possibility to influence the design of the solution responding to business needs to enhance customer experience Collaboration and frequent direct interactions with business stakeholders Truly international environment and daily interactions with colleagues from all over the world Attractive benefits package (private medical care, group insurance, lunch card, transportation allowance, pension plan, Multisport/cultural card, free Alcon products for you and your significant other Permanent employment contract, attractive base salary and annual bonus Flexible hours and remote work possibilities Brand new office in Marynarska 15, Warsaw, with a lot of facilities inside
   
   Apply to speak about this opportunity, we'll be happy to introduce you to the company and the great team!

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find travel specialists for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your travel specialist job on Zippia to find and attract quality travel specialist candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as salesjobs, salesheads, allretailjobs.com, sales trax.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit travel specialists, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new travel specialist

   Once you've selected the best travel specialist candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   To prepare for the new travel specialist first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a travel specialist?