New job - important meeting. When to travel?

[TravelDilemma]

I start a new job in a couple of weeks. On day 2 I have to travel to London from 2.5-3 hours away and have a couple of options.

Travel on the day. Will mean getting up at 5am and risk of train/tube delays. Don’t really want to be a hot and sweaty flustered mess the first time I meet all the people I am managing.

Or I can pay for a hotel the night before. Will cost me at least £75 and my employer £50 less. Means travelling at the end of my first day in the new job so likely be knackered but possibly better for the first impression the next day.

What would you do?

Doesn’t help for this trip but speak to your boss when they return

When I used to travel I had to book through people who never left their desk. It was really infuriating and difficult

I remember trying to reason with someone on the phone that yes the hotel in Piccadilly Circus was £10 cheaper and only 1.5 miles from the office rather than my usual hotel literally over the road

They couldn’t get that for an implementation weekend I would be working till about 2am and back before 7am

If you choose to pay your hotel suggest keep your receipt and the one for your evening meal so you can hopefully expense them back. It usually, hopefully, just takes an email from someone for exceptions to the standard rules

Good luck in your new job

I believe I posted before you stated your new boss was on holiday and you were dealing with her PA - you could have said the exact same thing to the PA is the boss or HR were not available. By asking if anyone is around you can have dinner with, they may well ask a key team member or another person at your manager's level to meet you the evening before. Gordon Bennett, it's not difficult!

Hmm, I'm not sure I would be impressed with the company in your shoes. I know first impressions count but that works the other way too.

I'm senior management and in my first week (I'm based in Manchester) I had to visit our HQ in Heathrow for a meeting, they offered hotel arrangements for the previous evening however I told them as I have a 4 year old I would prefer to travel in the morning - so could they arrange a flight. Which they did without question.

At that level you should really have some autonomy over your business expenses etc, I don't need permission if it's within reason, just whack it on my company credit card or if it's a tricky booking (like flights or overseas) I ask the support team to do it. They don't need to seek authorisation because of my seniority.

If they're quibbling over a travel lodge and need to seek approval from the CEO over £75 then they sound a bit shit and micro-managey (I know that's not a real word but it works here ).

I travelled a lot for work pre-Covid. Personally, l would opt for the hotel option for peace of mind, especially as you are new. I wouldn’t sleep otherwise anyway.

Keep hold of the receipt and hopefully you can claim it back, but l can understand you treading cautiously on that one.

And good luck with the new job 🤗

@Eeiliethya

Hmm, I'm not sure I would be impressed with the company in your shoes. I know first impressions count but that works the other way too.

I'm senior management and in my first week (I'm based in Manchester) I had to visit our HQ in Heathrow for a meeting, they offered hotel arrangements for the previous evening however I told them as I have a 4 year old I would prefer to travel in the morning - so could they arrange a flight. Which they did without question.

At that level you should really have some autonomy over your business expenses etc, I don't need permission if it's within reason, just whack it on my company credit card or if it's a tricky booking (like flights or overseas) I ask the support team to do it. They don't need to seek authorisation because of my seniority.

If they're quibbling over a travel lodge and need to seek approval from the CEO over £75 then they sound a bit shit and micro-managey (I know that's not a real word but it works here ).

They’ve set the time of the meeting to allow everyone to travel. Which is fair enough, but everyone else knows the lay of the land and each other already. It will be the first time meeting most of these people, I will be managing a significant number of them. I don’t want to be looking knackered and flustered from travelling in rush hour London when I’ve worked predominantly from home for 2 years.

I start the day before. I’ve never been able to access expenses before physically starting in a role.

The usual London allowance is £150 per night, so it’s not the £75 that’s an issue. It’s that they set the meeting time to not need to pay overnights for anyone. Which is absolutely fine. I just don’t want to travel in the morning, so I’ll sort that myself.

For anyone North of Watford a 9.30 time is ambitious

Maybe during lockdown they’ve forgotten this

Many organisations have really clamped down on travel expenses since covid. They got too used to the cost saving so now restrict travel much more than they used to.

There’s also the climate impact too. At my place you now need special approval to fly domestically for example, it was never questioned pre covid.

Very sensible OP, see if premierinn is available, much more comfortable than travellodge