How do you choose the best communication channels for your travel team?

1 Assess your needs

Before you decide on the communication channels for your travel team, you need to assess your needs and goals. What kind of information do you need to share with your team members? How often do you need to communicate with them? How urgent or sensitive is the information? How reliable and accessible are the communication channels in your destination? These questions will help you narrow down your options and prioritize your needs.

2 Choose your main channel

Once you have assessed your needs, you need to choose your main communication channel for your travel team. This is the channel that you will use for the most important and frequent updates, such as itinerary changes, emergency alerts, or meeting reminders. Ideally, your main channel should be easy to use, secure, and compatible with different devices and platforms. Some examples of main communication channels are email, text messages, phone calls, or messaging apps.

3 Use secondary channels

In addition to your main communication channel, you may also want to use secondary channels for your travel team. These are the channels that you will use for less critical or more casual communication, such as sharing photos, tips, feedback, or socializing. Secondary channels can add some variety and fun to your travel communication and updates plan, but they should not interfere with your main channel. Some examples of secondary channels are social media, blogs, podcasts, or newsletters.

4 Set some ground rules

To avoid confusion, frustration, or miscommunication, you need to set some ground rules for your travel communication and updates plan. These are the guidelines that you and your team members will follow to ensure that everyone is on the same page and respects each other's preferences and boundaries. Some examples of ground rules are: when to use which channel, how to respond to messages, how to handle confidential information, how to deal with technical issues, or how to manage expectations.

5 Test your channels

Before you embark on your trip, you need to test your communication channels for your travel team. This is to make sure that they work properly, that everyone knows how to use them, and that there are no glitches or surprises. You can do this by sending some test messages, making some test calls, or checking the signal strength and data usage of your devices. You can also ask for feedback from your team members and make any adjustments if needed.

6 Review and improve

Finally, you need to review and improve your communication channels for your travel team as you go along. This is to evaluate how effective they are, how satisfied you and your team members are, and how you can make them better. You can do this by asking for feedback, tracking the results, identifying the challenges, or exploring new options. You can also celebrate the successes and reward the efforts of your team members.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?