Every year seems to bring new business travel trends. We’ve had sustainable business travel, bleisure travel and new travel tech. What can you expect in the year ahead? These are the expert-predicted 2025 business travel trends to have on your radar.
As a Travel Manager, it’s key that you stay up to date on all the latest business travel trends. Your Travelers expect you to have a finger on the pulse of the travel industry so you can meet their needs. The more you’re in tune with these travel trends, the happier Travelers will be and the more profitable and productive their business travel will become.
Need a quick review of what to expect in the coming months? These are the 2025 business travel trends you need to know about.
1. Internal business travel is increasing.
According to the 2025 Skift Megatrend report, business travel is changing in a lot of ways (obviously). However, one area of business travel growth that’s easy to overlook? Internal business travel.
Many organizations are finding that their Travelers are traveling more and more, not necessarily to meet with clients or to attend conferences, but to instead meet with each other. As remote work becomes the norm and more teams are spread across the globe, travel becomes necessary for in-person team-building, inter-team meetings and more. As such, internal business travel is increasing, and so are services that can cater to that travel.
Skift suggests that, among 2025 business travel trends, we may just notice travel service providers cropping up to specifically help plan tours, retreats and other private travel experiences for groups of coworkers.
2. Frolleague travel is the new buzzword.
“Bleisure” was a buzzy new term when it first appeared in the mainstream several years ago. Now, while it’s still popular, it’s almost mundane. Who hasn’t combined a business and leisure trip in the last few years?
So, what’s the new buzzword on Travelers’ lips? In 2025, it might just be “frolleague.” According to the Hilton annual trends report, not only are business Travelers now blending their business and leisure travel, but they’re also blending their colleagues and friends (hence, “frolleague”). As those lines blur, nearly 30% of business travelers are actively choosing to travel on leisure trips with said colleagues.
Will 2025 be the year that Travelers aren’t bringing their family members along for an extended stay in a conference destination but are instead sticking around in that locale to simply hang out longer with their coworkers?
3. Your Travelers might not be so beholden to their loyalty programs.
As any Travel Manager probably knows, if your frequent Travelers can get some airline loyalty miles or points out of a business trip, they’re going to try to do so. However, a 2025 travel trends report from SmartFlyer suggests that might not be the case for much longer.
Instead, the report noted that fewer Travelers will likely choose their air travel based primarily on loyalty programs. Instead, they’ll look to other factors, such as value, the type of aircraft used by the airline, and whether or not they’ll be able to get into a lounge.
This is, in part, the report noted, due to younger Travelers entering the ranks and feeling less overall brand loyalty. Additionally, airlines, in general have stopped holding as many first-class seats for loyalty member upgrades and are instead selling them.
“Gen Z and Millennials are less likely to enroll in airline loyalty programs than older generations. Only 65% of Gen Z and 70% of Millennials are loyalty program members, compared to 89% of Baby Boomers and 80% of Gen X.” According to Forbes
4. Younger Travelers create a new kind of bleisure.
While bleisure travel is the new normal, Travel & Leisure Asia predicts that, in 2025, it becomes more common for younger Travelers to put their own spin on the concept. These are young professionals who very likely have spent the majority of their careers working in hybrid or completely remote settings post-2020. As such, they see more of a blend between work and life and aren’t as likely to draw a sharp line between the two.
When it comes to bleisure travel, for these Travelers, that means that every trip is a bleisure trip. A business trip can provide leisure, too, if you’re willing to make it so. As an example, the publication mentioned how, during a hectic work trip, a Traveler might skip the hotel breakfast and go out and explore, tasting local cuisine, before commencing the work day.
5. Technology makes business travel more accessible.
A Travel Manager has to keep the Traveler’s comfort and needs in mind when planning and overseeing a business trip. However, not every Traveler is the same, and those needs will differ. For some Travelers, the typical Business Travel Experience can be quite stressful. For neurodivergent business Travelers (or those with differing mental or neurological functions and who may be on the autistic spectrum), 2025 could bring new technology that makes business travel more enjoyable.
As Travel Daily News Asia-Pacific reported, technology throughout the travel experience could assist more than half of neurodivergent APAC Travelers who feel their travel options are limited due to their neurodivergence. Travel tools like AI could provide more streamlined, better-organized information. They could keep Travelers abreast of delays and other up-to-date information. Meanwhile, some neurodivergent Travelers are pushing for airports, hotels and similar venues to provide quieter, less busy spaces and sensory rooms.
What else can you expect in the year ahead?
These 2025 business travel trends are just the start of what you can expect this year. Other major trends that multiple publications and surveys have pointed to include a (continued) increase in wellness travel and multigenerational travel, an increased interest in upgrading airport experience and more attention to how well Travelers sleep while on the road (and how that impacts Travelers’ health).
Let JTB Business Travel keep you up to date on all the latest business travel, Travel Management and other trends. Check out the JTB Business Travel Waypoint Blog for more tips and insights now.
