You’re probably managing your travel programme with three levers…
Policy. Pricing. Process.
Most organisations do.
But there are at least forty levers that shape what you actually spend.
Levers that sit inside behaviour, design, visibility, technology, finance and the small decisions your people make every day.
When only three levers are active, your costs behave predictably.
They rise
They leak
And they hit limits you can’t push past
The companies getting meaningful savings in 2025 aren’t squeezing suppliers.
They’re activating more of the levers already inside their organisation.
And that’s where the real transformation begins.
Travel isn’t a cost line. It’s a system of behaviours.
Every trip is shaped by hundreds of small choices.
Who books
Where they book
When they book
What they see first
What they compare
How long approvals take
These choices add up
Recent global analysis found almost 20% of travel and expense spend sits outside policy.
Industry reports continue to show that unused airline tickets account for 10-11% of a company’s annual travel budget when not recovered.
Business Travel News recently highlighted leakage as one of the biggest reasons negotiated value disappears.
The message is clear.
Overspend is rarely in the fare.
It sits in the cracks of the system.
The hidden ledger: cost you don’t track but should
Time cost
This time is rarely tracked, yet it’s one of the most expensive parts of unmanaged travel.
Time spent chasing approvals, rebooking disrupted trips, comparing options or correcting profile errors.
Friction cost
Poor routing, long layovers, suboptimal hotels, and the stress that comes with disruption.
System cost
Inaccurate profiles, inconsistent use of online booking tools, missed VAT reclaim, duplicate bookings, weak reconciliation, and lost credits.
Decision cost
People rarely choose the cheapest option.
They choose what appears first.
Or what feels easiest.
Or what someone booked last time.
That’s where most savings leak.
Why this will matter more in 2026
Budgets are becoming ever more constrained.
Expectations aren’t.
GBTA research shows that most buyers expect travel volumes to increase next year.
42% of travel managers expect directives to cut costs.
You’re being asked to reduce spend while travel becomes more expensive, more essential and more complex.
That’s why the old approach – pushing for lower fares doesn’t work anymore.
You need more levers, and you need them working together.
Where travel programmes fail: inconsistency, not intent
Most overspend comes from inconsistency.
Different channels.
Different habits.
Different rules.
Different levels of compliance.
Different interpretations of policy.
Different responses to disruption.
Different content shown to different people.
In any other corporate function, inconsistency would be unacceptable.
But in travel, it’s normal, and it’s expensive.
Savings levers only work when the programme is consistent.
Without consistency, each lever loses power.
Tools don’t shape behaviour. Design does.
Most travel tools present choices.
Few guide them.
That’s a missed opportunity.
The placement of options influences cost more than the policy document behind it.
- When rail is shown before air, rail adoption increases.
- When preferred hotels appear first, negotiated rates are used more often.
- When a system simplifies the right choice, traveller behaviour shifts.
This is decision architecture.
It’s widely used in consumer travel.
Corporate travel has barely touched it.
It’s one of the most underused and powerful savings levers.
The opportunity: travel as strategic leverage
Travel is more than logistics.
- Done well, it strengthens:
- Financial control
- Employee productivity
- Wellbeing and retention
- Sustainability performance
- Supplier value
- Risk visibility
- Operational consistency
Travel becomes an asset, not an obligation.
A strategic function rather than an expense line.
That mindset change unlocks the forty levers.
So if there are so many levers, why are most businesses only using three?
Most organisations only use three because they still see travel as a series of bookings rather than a system of behaviours, processes and decisions.
You don’t need all forty. This isn’t cookie-cutter travel management.
You need the right ones.
These levers sit across five areas:
Policy
A travel policy shouldn’t be static. It should evolve as your organisation moves, absorbing new behaviours, risks and expectations rather than sitting untouched in a folder. Policy levers shape how people book, how approvals work and where savings land or leak.
Planet
Sustainability is now a financial lever. Accurate CO₂ reporting, carbon budgets and sustainable supplier choices influence both cost and compliance, helping organisations track impact as well as spend.
Processes
Processes decide how consistent, efficient and visible your programme is. Adoption rates, change patterns, expense leakage and reason-for-travel capture all contribute to the real cost of travel.
People
Traveller behaviour drives cost as much as fares do. Understanding patterns, satisfaction and wellbeing helps organisations reduce leakage while supporting productivity.
Product
What travellers can see is what they choose. Product levers focus on the strength of your supplier programmes and the choices people make within them. When content depth, negotiated rates, rail-first visibility, hotel attachment and ground-transport options are aligned, costs fall quickly. Strong, consistent product performance across air, hotel, rail, car hire and ancillaries gives travellers better options, and gives you more control.
Most organisations fall back to the same three familiar levers, not because they work, but because they’re the most visible.
That’s why savings feel capped.
Start by asking the right questions
How consistent are your booking channels?
How long do approvals take?
How many unused tickets were recovered last year?
Do your travellers see your negotiated rates first?
How many bookings sit outside your reporting visibility?
Can finance rely on your travel data?
How much time do bookers spend managing admin instead of value?
Are your carbon reports accurate, or generic estimates?
If the answers aren’t clear, you’re not using enough levers…
Speak to our team for a benchmarked review of the levers your programme might be missing.