Business Travel News' 24th Annual Travel Manager Salary & Attitude Survey: Execs' Salaries, Responsibilities Grow

As cost-conscious corporations reduce travel spending and consolidate procurement duties, travel buyers—especially senior-level buyers—are seeing responsibilities increase and compensation packages rise as well, creating a competitive job market.

Though senior buyers are wary of the industry changes affecting their job roles, they realize experience, knowledge and versatility increases their value to their companies in terms of potential overall cost savings, leverage in long-term supplier relations and the level of experience that is necessary to handle multifaceted procurement duties.

According to this year's 24th annual Business Travel News Salary & Attitudes Survey, 31 percent of the 289 travel buyer respondents reported an annual full compensation package, including bonuses, incentives and salary, exceeding the $100,000 mark—4 percent more than last year's survey. Of the respondents, 16 percent identified themselves as senior buyers holding the title of vice president or travel director. The increase in top-level compensation packages contributed to a 3.3 percent increase in overall average salaries for travel buyers compared with last year, which is now $92,494. The average compensation package for travel managers, however, slipped by 1.4 percent to $97,161, and 21 percent of travel manager respondents did not receive any raise at all.

With traditional travel buyers adding various procurement and sourcing responsibilities, such as handling fleet services, mobile phone contracts and dining services, salaries are rising across the spectrum, according to P. Jason King, CEO of New York-based P. Jason King Associates, an executive search, career development and consulting firm.

"Salaries are definitely on the rise," he said. "Not only from Fortune 500 companies that surely have the wherewithal to make the package stronger, but also from smaller organizations that are looking for corporate travel management. The key has been, whomever the corporate travel manager is reporting to, whether procurement or finance, they have decided to make the corporate travel manager responsible for more than just travel. They say, 'If you want the big salary then we'll pay it. You just have to be responsible for more things.' "

Due to the competitive domestic job market, King said some buyers are opting for short-term, lucrative positions overseas, where foreign-based corporations covet the experience of senior-level buyers.

"People should be aware at least that there are jobs overseas," King said. "They feel that Americans can do it better because there are so many corporate travel managers in the United States. The companies overseas are looking for primarily Americans who will give them a two-year minimum contract."

King said foreign-based companies are adding bonuses and perks on top of six-figure salaries, including upscale housing for their families, full relocation expenses for their families and complimentary trips back to the United States throughout the term of the contract.

As salaries for some senior buyers range from $125,000 to $250,000, resistance to taking on added roles could make them expendable if lower-level buyers accept these roles, King said.

"Many corporate travel managers from the old school are resenting these other responsibilities and don't want to do it. That's a problem because that's how the big bucks are being paid out," he said. "The bottom line is that the companies feel if someone has not been doing it that long, they would be willing and open to take on additional responsibilities."

Although an increased workload may be burdensome, some longtime buyers embrace their new roles as compensation increases and job security improves.

"You're making your job position more robust and more valuable to your corporation so that you certainly have the chance to demonstrate why you're necessary," said one director of corporate travel for a New York metropolitan area-based company. "With the changes in the industry, it becomes harder to justify your position, so you have to be there and show what else you can accomplish. The more your portfolio of job responsibilities increases, the more the likelihood of your superiors understanding exactly what you do."

As the ongoing trend of travel buyers taking on cross-functional procurement roles continues, more experienced buyers become stronger assets to the company, said Thomson Corp. director of travel services Sharon Fogarty, who is part of a three-person team that manages 12,000 travelers in North America for the Corporate Travel 100 company.

"It's the more that you are involved in other aspects, not just corporate travel. If you bring in meetings and car services, being knowledgeable on that allows more capabilities in the job market right now," she said. "We have a very small department, but we cover it all. From one perspective, a senior person knows more about the industry in certain cases and the salary may be that they are more knowledgeable. They have been around, they have seen changes and they have the advantages for that."

One key for buyers demonstrating their value to a corporation is exhibiting the savings they bring to senior executives, said The Expedition Development Co.'s director of travel Kevin Maguire, who recently transitioned from his role as director of global travel services at Applied Materials.

"If you have a good managed program, you should have a cost-avoidance ratio of about 12 percent," he said. "That's the worst-case scenario. The best case is that it should be 20 percent or more. If you can save them 15 percent or 20 percent, that is your worth to the company. If your spending is in the $4 million range, then your worth is in the one-half-million dollar range. You need to show them in specific terms what the program can do in a cost-avoidance situation. Try to show them how a managed program works from a supplier standpoint. You can save money through cost avoidance, but also by building relationships and partnerships."

According to Herb Edelberg, president of Saddle Brook, N.J.-based Millennium Travel Consulting, a travel personnel recruitment agency, the strength of senior-level buyers' experience is most applicable at companies with large travel budgets because of their multifaceted travel programs.

"Larger corporate accounts have a pretty wide-variety program," Millennium Travel Consulting's Edelberg said. "They spend a lot of money, so the economies of scale are there for these corporations to have these managers. As long as they are doing a credible job and are meeting their objectives, then they are secure. The Fortune 500 companies are not going to do without a director or vice president of travel. There is a mega spend there and they need someone addressing that."

In some companies, where the need to cut costs exceeds—or management doesn't understand—the savings travel buyers can generate, buyers sometimes have found themselves on the chopping block—even senior ones.

"Companies are still looking at controlling travel costs," said Edelberg, "With rising costs of airfares and hotels, they start to feel it on the overall budget, which includes salary of the travel manager or the director. The corporation could eliminate the position or outsource it to the travel management company."

Buyers contend that there is no substitution for experience, but that it needs to be exhibited to upper management. Tom Barrett, global strategic sourcing director for Piscataway, N.J.-based American Standard said seniority brings value by leveraging experience, relationships and partnerships with suppliers to meet the needs of the corporation, especially if something goes wrong for individual travelers.

"When I sign up on a vendor agreement, my travelers don't know how to get to senior-level airline contacts that I have," Barrett said. "You are the vendor and the supplier to your internal customers because they don't know how to get to that senior-level person because they want some kind of remediation or restitution."

The bottom line for exhibiting your job value is demonstrating performance levels, Barrett said. "It depends on where you sit in the supervisory and where you are within your own organization. That can be demonstrated in different ways," he said. "It's setting your goals and objectives with your management and making them aggressive enough so that you deliver that value-added solution to the businesses. Then it's all about the vendor managers and your responsiveness in customer service."

Despite the transitioning role of travel buyers, the demand for experienced senior-level managers is not subsiding, according to Barrett.

"In the old world, we had travel managers and they are virtually an extinct breed. There is hardly anyone left who has the role of travel manager. When you go further up the chain, you now wear multiple hats in the process," he said.

"If your program is deemed to be credible and successful, you would probably have greater opportunities for those positions and challenges that would come your way from the business you are working for. Nothing will succeed like success."