Travel expense trends to look out for this year

For the majority of businesses, travel expenses are inevitable. Your employees could be meeting clients abroad or attending various conferences – all of this travel will incur expenses, including food and accommodation.

All of these expenses should be reported through a travel expense solution, with receipts to verify and enable a smooth reimbursement.

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Various travel expense trends can affect business travel expenses management, so here are some trends to look out for this year…

Safety comes first

The prioritization of employees’ health and well-being is being put at the forefront of business travel trends, as there are possibilities of traveling to places where you may experience delayed flights or other unfortunate circumstances.

Therefore, businesses must do all they can to ensure their employees feel safe from the very beginning of a business trip.

Companies should be focusing on important aspects, like providing their employees with business travel insurance and the safest accommodation in the area.

Taking this further, a corporate travel security policy should ideally be created to define guidelines that should be followed to ensure maximum safety whilst on a work trip.

Changing business travel policies

After the pandemic, many businesses have opted for a hybrid-working approach, giving more flexibility to employees, but this has caused great discussion on what can and cannot be claimed back as expenses.

Employees can often save money by working at home, so if travel to the office is required, you may need to consider offering reimbursement of expenses. This approach can help cover the additional costs they incur and show that the company values their time and commitment.

All businesses need to reflect on their current policies that may no longer be fit for purpose post-pandemic. As corporate travel is a key economic driver, staying on top of these trends is vital.

Embarking on a ‘bleisure’ trip

Now that travel is back on the rise after the pandemic and employees are feeling more comfortable, a rise in bleisure travel is also expected to see a rise.

Bleisure travel combines both business and leisure trips, and the possibility of hybrid and remote working has allowed for this.

Now that employees can practically work from anywhere they have a reliable internet connection, travel can be extended, whilst still being able to access anything work-related.

Yet, it’s also important to update policies based on these types of trips and their two different elements.

Technology on the rise

The need for technology in all business aspects only increases each year and 2023 is no different, especially as online booking is an essential element of business travel.

Another perk of technology is streamlining. This is useful for the receipt uploading system needed to issue reimbursements – no one wants to be collating paper receipts for every expense on a business trip.

It’s important to incorporate technology in various business areas to make your company run more efficiently, whilst creating happier employees.

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There are many trends to look out for this year when it comes to travel expense trends. All businesses should be aware of them to ensure that they can opt for the best type of management solution for all types of travel expenses, ensuring a smooth-running process.