In crises, operational truth imposes itself without pretense. Many organizations consider themselves protected — processes, risk zone mapping, internal policies, insurance — but practice tells another story.  The recent Middle East crisis served as a crash test: unclear perimeters, underestimated dependencies, failing communication, incomplete data… So many blind spots that transform plans that look perfect on paper into barely actionable systems. 

“We hadn’t thought about bleisure.” “My agency isn’t responding.” “I can’t reach my travelers.” “My insurance doesn’t cover geopolitical risks.” 

Who is Covered when plans derail? 

As soon as a trip deviates from the standard — guests, contractors, remote workers, extension for bleisure — the gray area expands.  Without explicit responsibility and clear insurance coverage, the company is exposed and struggles to locate all the people in the area.  The absence of a registry for non-employees or the lack of non-liability agreement signed by the employee for bleisure time slow decision-making, clouds priorities, and waste precious hours. 

Responding Fast and Accurately When Everything Is Crumbling 

Communication is the Achilles’ heel of crisis management: late messages, too long, sometimes in the wrong language, and especially without immediately actionable instructions.  If the Internet goes down, a system without resilient channels (SMS/voice) that hasn’t been tested goes silent.  Conversely, prepared organizations broadcast “3C” messages — clear, short, concrete — through multiple channels, track acknowledgments of receipt, and trigger escalation in case of silence. 

The Invisible Off-Channel Bookings 

Off-channel bookings (approximately 30% of corporate bookings) thrive for various reasons — rates perceived as lower, content absent from the OBT, field urgency — and travelers disappear from the radar.  They become invisible, making assistance impossible to prioritize.  Solid systems compensate through “leakage” sensors (email parsing, trip declaration in security portals, SMS mass communication as a last resort) and continuously emphasize the need to book through mandatory company’s channels. 

TMC Under Pressure: The Bottleneck 

Dependency on the Travel Agency is a time of crisis is high and they can become the bottleneck: saturated hotlines, massive response delays and priority given to the biggest clients.  Without minimal internal capacity — escalation plan, crisis management procedure, direct interactions with airlines/hotels — the organization remains on hold when every minute counts. The most mature organizations lock in SLAs with involved partners and a contingency plan that can be activated in less than 30 minutes. 

Navigating the Information Fog 

Deciding without reliable multi-source data means moving blindfolded.  A consolidated situation dashboard — combining PNR/OBT, HR, SSO, location data with opt-in consent, and external sources (suppliers, authorities, risk providers, OSINT) — enables producing a first SITREP in less than 30 minutes, updated at regular intervals. 

Don’t Forget the Human Factor 

The crisis doesn’t stop at the travelers’ doorstep. The human dimension requires methodical follow-up: post-trip check-ins at 24h/72h/2 weeks, access to psychological support, managers trained in detecting weak signals, and post-incident review formalized within 10 days. Without the relevant care, psychological consequences persist and can damage long-term affected people. 

Conclusion — No improvisation in Crisis Management 

In a world where risk has become polymorphic — geopolitical, climatic, health, social, but also cyber — improvisation is no longer an option.  New practices expand the company’s risk exposure and complicate the response. Travel Risk Management must no longer be treated as a cost but rather as a way of maintaining business continuity: preserve people, maintain operations, protect the brand and compliance. It must be approached as a cross-functional topic, at the intersection of security, legal, HR, IT, and travel. 

The ISO 31030 standard provides a framework for implementing a comprehensive travel risk management strategy.  However, it must always be correlated to the company’s context and organization to put efforts where it matters and implement viable long-term measures and governance.