Sunny Side Up

Business Travel News’ Salary Survey is always one of our most anticipated features of the year. This year, it’s couched in an extended issue—“Travel Management Evolution”—because, let’s face it, a few things have changed with the travel management profession in the last couple of years.

One of the most significant, according to our survey, is how much focus has diverted from straight-up cost savings to other concerns: traveler safety and wellness, of course, but also to improving technology platforms, more strategic data analysis and, for some companies, sustainability efforts.

We fielded and completed the survey in July, as inflationary pressures were rising, so it’s not surprising that cost control remained the single most common measure of travel management performance. That said, it’s clear that there has been a reckoning across the corporate landscape that the travel management practice reaches far beyond travel itself. And for those looking to advance their careers, strong alignment and a demonstrated contribution to organizational strategy is not only possible but is now more tangible than ever.

But that’s not to say every company is able to look at travel management that way.

The travel industry took a beating over the last two years, and along with our colleagues at travel suppliers and travel management companies, travel managers suffered from executives not understanding their value, furloughs, layoffs and some extended unemployment. In job searches, some came to feel their career trajectories had been “too narrow,” despite the fact that travel management touches so many divisions and, as our survey demonstrates, so many adjacent skill sets.

The good news for this subset is that among the dissatisfied buyers who spoke to BTN, none are content to fade away into roles that don’t fit their skill sets. They are interviewing, and earning, advancement in new opportunities with companies that want to tap into their more strategic vision. 

Good luck out there to all—and good job!