Report: Business Travel Recovering From Inflation

By Mark Athitakis Dec 10, 2024 The SAP Concur study adds that engagement in AI is expanding, but travelers still prefer the human touch for now.

Easing inflation and growing engagement with generative AI will have an increased impact on business travel in 2025, according to a new report.

Travel & Expense 2025, released last month by SAP Concur, a travel management software firm, highlighted four trends for meeting planners and travel managers to consider in the coming year. Most prominently, it noted that slowing inflation should lead to increased business travel in the coming year. Still, travelers are watching their pocketbooks: Last year, the report said, “companies have spent more to travel less” and that “business leaders expect to drive more value out of every dollar, yen, and euro they spend on travel.”

To that end, more travelers—especially younger ones—are looking for opportunities to mix business and pleasure. “Blended travel…is also expected to grow in demand,” the report says. “ As millennials and older GenZers dominate corporate traveler and decision-making roles, companies built around the employee experience—including travel flexibility—will have to continue offering those benefits.”

The report notes that generative AI is having a substantial impact on the business side of travel management, with many organizations using it to streamline administrative tasks such as approval for expense reports. Travelers themselves, however, are more skeptical about AI and prefer to be more hands-on when it comes to making travel decisions.

Though separate SAP Concur research found that 95 percent of business travelers are open to AI-generated automation, “travelers will still hesitate to let go of full control, instead approaching AI tools through a cautiously experimental lens,” the report said. “AI will be seen as a ‘handy assistant’ used to source recommendations or identify expense anomalies, but travelers will not yet be comfortable with AI booking their travel or submitting their expense reports for them.”

But though attendees might not want to rely solely on a chatbot to book travel, they do want a more dynamic experience, said Jen Moyse, senior director of product at TripIt from Concur in a release. “Traveler expectations for user experience will continue to increase, with reduced tolerance for basic or ‘flat’ sites,” she said. “This is true for all digital user experiences, but especially in travel, whether it’s for business or leisure. We’ll see growing demand for continuous updates and problem-solving assistance from travel providers during disruptions like extreme weather events, which are increasingly influencing travel decisions and putting duty of care in the spotlight.”

When deciding where to focus attention on improving the user experience, the report emphasizes the importance of personalization. Tools that recognize attendees’ past experiences and preferences will be of particular value, as will apps that provide meaningful information about the destination. “Apps should provide easy access to the latest travel guidelines and requirements, so travelers can search their destinations and make informed decisions about where to go (or not to go) before they book— offering information on everything from local hospitals and pharmacies to political unrest, environmental pollution, and neighborhood safety scores for women and LGBTQ communities,” said the report.

“This is an opportunity to build trust and strengthen AI offerings, which will ultimately put everyone in a good spot when users—and their employers—are ready to make that leap,” said Moyse in the release.

Source: Associationsnow.com