General VA Tasks Basics: Booking Flights, Car and Accommodation for Your Client

Ah, flight bookings and accommodation may be something that you're quite familiar with already. Before I became a VA, I already had a good understanding of how this works and where to get the cheaper deals. Even I was surprised that I still made a couple of booking mishaps that were quite expensive. I was just blessed that my boss' let those slide, but not all bosses might be the same. 

If you're a new VA, you might be tasks to make some booking one of these days as well. Even with booking experience, it is still very important to do this with a great presence of mind because a single mistake may cost you a lot.

What you should ask for when you're tasked to make a flight, car and/or hotel booking

Whether you are using a travel agency or you're booking direct, these are the important questions that you should have answers to just to avoid going back and forth with your client:

Flights and Hotels

• What are the dates of the booking? And are the date for the flight and hotel booking the same? Some might stay with friends or family for a few days and won't need a hotel in the duration of the trip.
• Would you like an economy, business or first class ticket?
• What time would you like to depart from your local airport or arrive at the destination airport? 
• Do you have a preferred airline company?*
• Window seat or aisle seat?*
• What is your passport number and birthday?* Treat this and all other information with confidentiality.
• Do you have a preferred hotel?
• Do you have dietary restriction?*
• Do you have an airline or hotel loyalty membership?*

Car/Car Service

• Do you have a preferred car type?* Sedan, SUV, Van. If they choose to use Uber, then there's no need to make any booking. 
• Would you like to hire a driver? Note that most bosses can and are very much willing to drive but it won't hurt to ask if this is your first time. Car companies at airport are usually only self-driven so if your boss does ask for a driver, you might have to contact the hotel directly for car services.

Payment

• How would you like to pay? There are bosses who trust their VAs with credit cards but other company payment policies can also be via LastPass or they will book it themselves after you present them with the options.

For the questions marked with (*), take notes of the answers for these so you won't have to keep asking them each time you make a booking. You can ask more questions as you see fit but don't ask too many because you might annoy your client.

Presenting the options

Before you book, present the options to your client (unless they specifically tell you not to do this anymore) just to avoid getting blamed if you book the more expensive options.

In a table, you can include the following details categorised into three different price points (low, mid and high):

• Flights. requested date and times, alternative timing that does not clash with their business meetings or visits, alternative airline
• Hotels. Include the hotels that are closest to their meetings (usually the city centre is the best option), closest to the airport and those that are not very close, but very reputable hotels.
• Cars. There are two trusted and best companies for car rentals that are closest to the airport: Avis and Hertz.

Why you should choose to book direct

If the company is not affiliated with any travel agency, I would suggest you only choose to book direct with the airline,car company or hotel. I ran into problems booking via third party for business trips in the past and it definitely is not worth the anxiety and hassle. Booking direct will make it easier for you or your client to make changes as well as make necessary adjustments or fix problems.

Avoid third-party websites even if they are cheaper. These are business trips, not budget getaways. I would also suggest to avoid home rentals or Airbnbs because of the problems that have recently came to light with those.

Adding the booking to calendars

It is good initiative to add the timing of the bookings to your boss' calendars as soon as they are confirmed. There are ICS files that are downloadable in the manage booking pages but you can also create your own. Be aware of time differences if there are any.

I hope this helps!

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