What’s the Easiest Way to Book Group Air?

Planning meetings and events shouldn’t be overwhelming. Yet too often travel coordination – negotiating with suppliers, managing rooming lists and handling last-minute travel changes is a cumbersome, time-consuming slog. From coordinating group air to securing accommodations, ensuring everyone is where they need to be is no small feat. Fortunately, in 2024, there are numerous tools and strategies that can simplify this process. Whether you're a meeting manager, travel manager, or an independent planner, this post will help you navigate the best options to streamline your group air travel planning and keep your team happy and on time.

exploring your options

When it comes to arranging group air travel for meetings and events, you have four options:

• DIY travel planning on public travel websites 
• Meeting platforms like Cvent and Groupize
• Corporate travel agencies like Amex and BCD
• Group air travel platforms like AmTrav Gather

Let's explore each option, including their pros and cons, situations they work well and when they don't: 

diy travel planning

This approach involves either booking group air travel for your attendees yourself or letting them book their own travel and then submit for reimbursement.

Pros:

• Control over spending: By booking travel yourself, you can ensure that spending stays within budget. You can select flights and hotels that align with your financial guidelines
• Direct communication with attendees: You have the opportunity to interact directly with attendees, ensuring that all their travel details are correct and preferences are noted

Cons:

• Time-consuming: Booking travel for multiple attendees can become a logistical nightmare, requiring constant back-and-forth to confirm details like flight times and hotel preferences
• Tracking challenges: Keeping track of all itineraries and expenses manually can be overwhelming, especially if there are last-minute changes or disruptions
• Disruptions: If attendees face travel disruptions, they might reach out to you for assistance, adding to your stress

DIY planning can work well for very small groups or when attendees are responsible for their own expenses. However, it's not easily scalable. With more than just a couple of travelers, the process can quickly become unmanageable.

meeting platforms

Tools like Cvent and Groupize are designed to streamline event management, including registration and operations. Some also offer functionalities for booking group air travel.

Pros:

• Simplified event operations: They handle a range of tasks from event registration to managing room blocks and negotiating hotel rates
• Integration with corporate tools: If integrated with your company’s booking tool, these platforms can follow your travel policies and payment processes

Cons:

• Not fully tailored for travel: While useful, these tools are primarily designed for event management and may not offer easy booking for group air travelers or detailed travel policy controls tailored to your events
• Manual tracking for non-employees: Non-employee attendees may not have access to corporate booking tools, necessitating manual booking and tracking

Meeting platforms are useful but may require additional tools and integrations that take time (weeks or months) to set up, particularly for non-employee travelers.

corporate travel agencies

Your company’s travel agency (like Amex or BCD) can provide professional assistance in planning travel for attendees.

Pros:

• Expert sourcing: Travel agencies have specialists who can negotiate hotel blocks, event spaces, and airline contracts on your behalf
• Control over travel: Agencies can enforce travel policies, ensuring attendees book cost-appropriate options and adhere to schedules
• Secure payments: Corporate travel agencies can handle payments securely, reducing the risk of financial snafus

Cons:

• Cumbersome processes: Reliance on forms and emails can make the booking process slow and frustrating for both you and your travelers
• It’s expensive: Each interaction with the agency often incurs a fee, which often adds up quickly
• Hesitancy to call: Attendees might avoid calling the agency for assistance due to the perceived cost, leading to potential problems if travel disruptions occur

A Better Way

Hear from AE Ventures about switching from corporate agency service to a group air platform.

group air travel platforms

Specialized tools like AmTrav Gather are designed specifically for managing group air for meetings and events, combining many of the best features of other options.

Pros:

• Attendee autonomy: Attendees can book their travel within the parameters you set and with your payment securely provided, ensuring compliance with travel policies while allowing them to choose their preferred itineraries
• Automatic tracking: Real-time tracking of spend and itineraries ensures you have up-to-date information at all times
• 24/7 support: The best group air travel platforms give attendees access to round-the-clock human support, ensuring any travel disruptions are handled quickly and efficiently

Cons:

• Initial setup: There may be a learning curve when first setting up and using the platform, so make sure your group air platform comes with capable support and how-to documentation

Meeting travel platforms like AmTrav Gather offer a comprehensive solution that balances control and convenience for you with flexibility and support for your attendees.

Planners Love Gather

Hear from Gather customer Etak Events about how Gather makes group air fast and easy

how they compare:

conclusion

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for planning meeting and event group air travel. The best option depends on the size of your group, your budget, and your specific needs:

• DIY Planning is suitable for very small groups or when attendees are managing their own expenses
• Meeting Platforms are ideal for larger organizations that need robust event management tools
• Corporate Travel Agencies provide reliable, albeit sometimes cumbersome and costly, travel planning
• Group Air Travel Platforms like AmTrav Gather offer a modern, efficient, and user-friendly approach that saves time and reduces hassle

Ready for Fast, Easy Group Air Planning?

Let's talk about your next group air travel

About AmTrav: Through one simple technology and services platform, AmTrav helps travelers be more productive and connected, empowering companies and their people to go places, meet people and grow further. AmTrav customers enjoy integrated travel booking, travel spend reporting, traveler tracking, and 24x7 expert human support, reducing obstacles, complexity and cost so they get the full value of their business travel. Learn more or reach out for a one-on-one consultation today.