Corporate travel teams are being stretched with 62% of travel managers recently surveyed describing their programmes as understaffed. iStock/Denis Novikov
Corporate travel teams are doing more than managing trips, and 62% of travel managers describe their programmes as understaffed, according to a new study by the Global Business Travel Association in partnership with Cvent.
Not only are travel teams involved in risk management, payment and expense management, they also handle meetings, according to the A View From the Inside: How Are Modern Travel Programs Structured, Staffed and Managed report.
Programmes average 4.9 full-time employees who spend at least 75% of their time on travel-related issues; the median is three.
The findings for the report released on 3 November are based on a survey of 270 travel managers across North America and Europe conducted from 22 September through 1 October.
The understaffing problem
Understaffing was more common among larger-spending programs: 68% of managers at programmes with annual travel spending of US$30 million or more said they were understaffed. Those programmes averaged 7.6 employees, compared with 2.8 at programmes spending less than $10 million annually.
Travel teams reported involvement in travel risk management (88%), selecting payment products and providers (66%) and expense management (63%), though they were considerably less likely to have primary ownership of those functions.
Dedicated technology administrators (17%), hotel sourcing experts (13%) and technology strategists (10%) were relatively uncommon. Asked which single competency they most wanted to add or strengthen, 35% selected data analysis/reporting, the leading response.
Travel and meetings move closer
The survey found 39% of travel buyers said travel and meetings were more integrated than previously, compared with 7% who said they were less integrated.
Nearly a quarter of organisations (23%) had fully consolidated travel and meetings management under one team.
More than half of travel programmes were involved in meetings management (58%) and meetings sourcing (57%). Operational overlap extended to hotel procurement: 55% of respondents said their travel team sometimes managed room blocks for meetings and events, while 48% said their teams sometimes negotiated meeting space or group room rates through their regular hotel request-for-proposal process.
Most respondents saw benefits in closer coordination. Eighty-two percent said their organisations would benefit at least a little from greater integration or collaboration, including 64% who expected to benefit somewhat or greatly. Among those who saw a benefit, the most commonly cited advantages were consolidated travel and meetings data (76%) and greater savings and discounts (74%).
Uneven AI leadership
Travel teams were also taking a leading role in AI transformation within their programmes. Twenty-eight percent of respondents said the travel team itself was driving the effort, while 21% said it shared responsibility with another department. Another 13% said a different team, such as IT or information security, was leading. However, 27% said no one was driving AI transformation in their travel program.
General-purpose tools such as Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT were the most commonly used AI tools, according to the report. Custom-built AI tools and Model Context Protocols were much less widely adopted or understood.
Governance was also uneven: 57% of respondents said their travel programme fell under a company-wide AI governance policy, while 15% said it did not fall under an AI governance policy and 17% were unsure.