No one’s expecting travel expenses to decrease in the year ahead. What’s a Traveler or Travel Manager to do? Here’s how to streamline travel expenses in 2025.

If you’ve been clued in to travel experts’ predictions for 2025, you’ve probably noticed one key, possibly worrying trend. Business travel prices are not going down. While some hoped that might be the case once we reached a “new normal” post-pandemic, it seems that high prices are just here to stay. And they’re likely just getting higher.

According to Skift, in 2025, global airfare is expected to rise more than half a percent. Hotel room rates will increase by more than 2.5%. Car rental prices will be not far behind. Meeting and event costs, though, may see the sharpest increase, with costs per attendee per day rising nearly 5%.

Just as they have been for years now, these increases can be tacked up to a variety of factors. These include supply chain issues and labor shortages.

Despite this, though, many organizations aren’t exactly putting a pin in their travel plans. One study found that, for 2025, 40% of surveyed corporate entities planned to increase their travel volume over the year ahead. Ten percent of organizations globally said they’d increase their travel volume by a whopping more than 20% over the year ahead.

As a Traveler or Travel Manager, there’s little you can do in the face of these rising prices beyond reducing travel. However, that could very well not be a convenient or preferable option for your organization. So, instead, look first at ways you can streamline travel expenses in 2025. Use these best practices for approaching your travel spend.

1. Consider Every Cost

If it’s been a while since you’ve combed through your travel budget and looked at every single line item, now’s the time. Chances are, there are travel-related costs that you can eliminate or decrease. Really look at what’s being spent and where.

Already gone through this process and can’t identify any cost-saving measures? 

This is where travel tools like AI can come in and help with travel budgeting. AI can comb through data just like a Travel Manager or Arranger. But, AI may be able to spot patterns and discrepancies that the average human is less likely to notice.

2. Consider Sustainability 

Sustainability is becoming more and more important to the business travel world. However, that doesn’t mean that sustainability is cheap by any means. Many travel teams are finding that certain costs are increasing, whether that’s from choosing more sustainable travel providers or paying carbon offsets or sustainability-related fees.

Carefully weigh your sustainability measures and see what options are most cost-effective for you. Really consider how sustainability impacts your bottom line. 

At first glance, it may seem most financially wise to cut certain sustainability measures, but doing so could decrease your standing with consumers. Studies show sustainability is becoming increasingly important to consumers and in establishing brand loyalty. A company’s sustainability also matters to employees. Will cutting up-front sustainability-related costs reduce employee morale and cause you to lose talent — forcing you to pay unexpected talent acquisition costs? 

Use sustainability to your benefit by choosing options that will ultimately boost your bottom line rather than taking money-saving shortcuts that will cost you more in the long run. 

3. Look at Your Destinations 

As you streamline travel expenses in 2025, think about where it is you’re traveling. As the aforementioned Skift report noted, certain regions of the world will experience much steeper increases in travel costs than others. It might be time to reduce travel to certain regions or simply to reduce travel. If you’re a long-time reader of this blog, then you know we’ve often said the best way to save money on travel is to not travel.

4. Use Tools Like NDC

We’ve spoken often about how NDC will end up changing the travel buying landscape in the very near future. If your team has yet to implement an NDC travel booking platform, now might be the time to look into this option. Business Travel News reported that companies that have already done so said they had experienced “relative savings” compared to what they would have spent via traditional booking channels.

5. Analyze Your Partnerships

Travel Managers are no strangers to leveraging industry partnerships in order to get better deals and savings for their Travelers. If you’ve become stagnant in this aspect of your role, though, it might be time to re-analyze partnerships. If certain partners aren’t providing high value to your Travelers, finding another partner may be worth consideration.

6. Consider Ground Transportation

According to the Business Travel News article linked above, ground transportation costs are expected to increase the least in 2025. As such, this may be an opportunity for your teams to make the switch to ground transportation where possible — especially if you want to take advantage of expanded fleets of electric vehicles, which may be more in line with your sustainability goals. Business Travel News just cautions that for any Travel Managers considering this option, they verify their Travelers will have plenty of electric charging options in their travel areas.

7. Add New Tech to Your Arsenal

Beyond just reducing your travel expenses, when it comes to streamlining travel expenses in 2025, consider the entire expense lifecycle — from planning to booking to payment to reporting to data analysis. How can these processes be made easier, as well as more organized?

Working with the right Travel Management Company can make streamlining expenses simple. Whether you’re booking for your Travelers as a Travel Manager or your Travelers are booking on their own, the right TMC-provided tools make staying travel policy compliant, sticking to a budget and reporting expenses properly all extra easy. 

Streamline Travel Expenses in 2025 and Beyond with JTB Business Travel  

Let JTB Business Travel be the TMC that helps you streamline your travel expenses in 2025. Learn more about our travel expense solutions and get in touch today to learn more.