Choosing a coordinator to take travel booking off your plate

A travel coordinator worth their salt doesn't just book flights and hotels. They save you mental bandwidth on a task that's tedious, detail-heavy, and easy to foul up under pressure. But hiring the wrong person means you're either back-seat driving every decision or discovering missed connections on the morning of departure.

The gap between a coordinator who'll do and one who anticipates gaps comes down to a few specific qualities that aren't obvious from a CV.

Experience with your actual travel patterns

Not all travel is the same. Someone who's herded groups of 15 through European conferences may fumble your quarterly one-person client visits to different cities. A coordinator who's managed a CEO's unpredictable schedule across time zones has trained instincts that don't apply if you're a small team taking the same annual trip every year.

During your first conversation, walk through your last three trips. Ask how they'd have handled the delays, the last-minute changes, the day that got compressed. Listen for whether they ask clarifying questions about what went wrong or smooth over it. Good ones spot the pattern—maybe your meetings always slip, or you always arrive jet-lagged and need the first day lighter than the brief suggests.

If you travel domestically most of the time but occasionally to Africa or Europe, say so explicitly. A coordinator used to local routes may not know which carriers are reliable from Joburg to Windhoek, or how to budget buffer time for southern African airports. The wrong hire will treat their learning curve as your problem.

How they handle the bits that aren't in the brief

Bookings are the visible 30 percent. The real coordinator work is catching what you forgot to mention. They notice you've booked a 6am departure but never fly before 7am without stress. They realise your return flight lands at 10pm and you have a 9am meeting the next day. They ask whether you need a sim card, whether the venue has parking, whether you'll want a car the whole trip or just the first day.

Ask a shortlisted candidate: "Walk me through what you'd confirm with me *after* I've told you the basic dates and destinations." Their answer reveals whether they're filling in a form or actually thinking about your experience. The best ones produce a short checklist, either from a template they've refined or fresh from what they've heard so far.

Appetite for the nitpicks and regulations

Visas, travel insurance, passport validity windows, luggage allowances, vehicle insurance when renting—these are small decisions that compound into headaches. Some coordinators take them in stride. Others phone you for every detail.

Ask: "How would you find out about visa requirements for someone flying Johannesburg to Zambia for four days?" Then: "What would you do differently if they were travelling on a temporary residence permit?" A capable coordinator knows how to research, where to find reliable information, and what questions are worth escalating to you. They don't assume, and they don't get flustered by countries with complicated entry rules.

Also ask about their experience reconciling expenses. If you're expensing travel, does your coordinator know to separate personal items, to gather receipts properly, to flag unusual costs before they land on your desk?

Responsiveness and communication rhythm

You don't need real-time updates, but you do need to trust that issues won't surface on the day of travel. Ask how often they'd brief you during the booking process, and how they'd handle a problem (a flight cancellation, a missing document) once you're airborne.

Good coordinators have a communication style that fits your pace. If you're fast-moving and impatient, someone who needs three email exchanges to confirm a hotel will drive you up the wall. If you're methodical and like time to think, a coordinator who pushes you toward instant decisions feels pushy.

Describe your communication preference in your first brief: phone call to confirm, written summary after, one message a day or as-needed. Then pay attention to whether they respect it.

Starting small

Try them on a simple trip first—a day trip or a short local journey—before handing them your complex three-city regional visit. A good coordinator will show up in that small test. A mediocre one will do it fine, but you'll spot the things they miss or the ways their process doesn't fit your head.

When you're ready to move forward, Strove lets you review verified coordinators' experience and track records before you commit, so you're starting from a stronger foundation than a referral alone.