Traveling together with a sports team for an overnight tournament can be an excellent experience.The team can spend time playing the sport they all love, bonding together as they spend time at the hotel, and enjoying the excitement of competing at a high level. For coaches and sponsors of the team to enjoy the travel just as much, they should consider using travel planners specializing in sports travel to take care of all the trip details like flights, hotels and ground transportation.

Here are some travel planning tips to make your sports team’s trip more successful:

Use Help to Get Best Rates

Traveling with a team can be expensive, but group travel planning services are experts at making sure a group can get not only the most affordable travel arrangements but also the best. Depend on an agent to be able to:

• Find the best price on group airline flights.
• Getting a good flight schedule with minimal layovers.
• Helping you decide on a hotel and getting the best possible rate.
• Arranging for easy ground transportation.
• Helping you with any problems with late luggage or replacements for forgotten items.
• Making sure your team has adequate travel insurance.
• Helping you obtain any needed emergency medical services.

Plan Healthy Meals

Keeping your team playing their best depends on making sure they don’t get weighed down with fast food meals and unhealthy snacks. Whether you travel domestically or internationally, a GTI travel consultant can help you plan where you can eat and also assist you with:

• Booking a hotel with a good breakfast menu.
• Knowing where to go to buy snacks for the team.
• Helping you plan how to keep your team hydrated and ready for action.

Establish Hotel Code of Conduct

Whether your team travels a lot or a little, you may find that the excitement of being in a different environment with team mates can lead to poor sleeping habits or excess noise that prevents some of the team from getting enough rest. It helps to talk with the team about what is expected of them while they are at the hotel and to lay out some ground rules, such as:

• When it is time for lights out.
• Whether or when they can visit other rooms.
• What time they should be expected at breakfast.
• At what times they can use the hotel pool or weight room facilities.

Pack an Emergency Kit

Forgetting something is inevitable, so it helps to have an emergency kit of replacement equipment and essentials like:

• Water bottles.
• Sunscreen.
• Insect repellant.
• Hair ties and other personal items.
• Extra socks or other necessary clothing for your sport.
• First aid kit.

One important advantage of having a GTI personal travel consultant available to you 24/7 is that you will always have someone to consult in the case of any emergency, whether that is a broken bone, a missed flight or locating an essential item like a swim suit needed for a competition.

Let Your Travel Management Company Help

You have enough to worry about in keeping your team organized and ready for the competition, so let your professional travel planner take care of the rest.