Business travel: savings tips you’ll wish you knew sooner

Cutting waste, finding bargains, travelling smarter

The easiest way to reduce travel spend is to reduce travel. But for most businesses, that doesn’t look possible any time soon. A recent survey showed that 45% of customers intend to increase their travel in 2026.   

Your people want to travel, your clients want you to travel, and overall, your business is better off when you get in-person, face-to-face time with clients and prospects.

So, the question is, how can you keep travelling while keeping a better eye on the budget?

Visibility is everything in corporate travel savings

When you know what, who and where your travel is happening, you can spot waste, compare patterns and take action fast. This is one of the biggest drivers of corporate travel savings.

How much did you spend on incidentals last year? How much did last-minute changes cost you? Are people or departments spending much more than the average? Many businesses still manage their travel arrangements in-house and have this data spread across multiple systems and platforms. This makes it almost impossible to understand where your dollars are spent and how you could be more efficient.

Unless you’re an absolute magician with an Excel spreadsheet, the only way to get this crucial visibility is to have all your data flowing into one system. That’s particularly important if you’re also reporting on your carbon emissions. The easiest way to do that is to have a third-party booking system for all flights, hotels, ground travel and incidentals. 
That makes the whole thing easier to manage. But perhaps most importantly, this consolidation gives you the data you need to optimise spend and nudge people away from money-wasting booking and travelling habits.

Get your timing right 

The most cost-effective time to book business travel is around 15–20 days before departure for domestic travel and 60–90 days for international.

Corporate travel cost savings aren’t just about what you book. It’s about when you book – and earlier isn’t necessarily better. Our travel experts recommend booking domestic travel around 15–20 days before departure and 60–90 days for international to get the best bang for your buck. Any later, and you’re buying the most expensive fares. In fact, while airfares have climbed across the board. Data from booking through Corporate Traveller shows that domestic fares are up 4.3%, Trans-Tasman 6.8% and South Pacific 4.2% – and that’s just comparing June and July 2025 averages with the second half of the year (July–December). We’re seeing the biggest jumps in the last-minute window – those tickets you buy only 15 days before you travel. 
Booking too early may be just as costly. With travel dates not firmed up, you’re more likely to face change costs.

Tip
Avoid travel on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which tend to be the busiest – and the most expensive – travel days. 

Sidestepping major events

It’s also important to think about what else could be happening around the time you’re planning to travel. Major events, rugby season, conferences, school holidays and even big touring shows can push prices to a premium. You may find your preferred accommodation and flights aren’t even available. The best way to avoid these higher-cost trips is to loosely plot upcoming travel on a calendar. Things change, of course, but it means that you have a better chance of planning around peak price periods and getting a first-mover advantage on accommodation. 

Spend money where it’ll save you money

The most cost-effective trip is the one with the fewest downstream expenses.

With a better understanding of your travel behaviour, you can make smarter choices about where to spend and where to save. Sometimes, the cheapest option ends up costing you far more in the long run. 

Tip: 

Book accommodation, rental cars and parking early to secure the best rates and preferred options. It can give you more flexibility if plans change.

Quick hits – fast ways to get big business travel savings 

• Book hotels near key locations to save on taxis. 
• Compare rates across multiple airlines and mix and match for better deals.
• Look for mid-tier hotels with good amenities. 
• Book hotels, parking and rental cars in advance – lower-priced options sell out fast.
• Grab flights 15-20 days in advance for domestic and 60-90 days for international.
• Set expectations, rules and per-day caps on trip expenses.
• Work with a business travel service provider to minimise changes and access preferential rates 

Don’t underestimate incidentals 

Incidental charges are sometimes called ancillary charges. They’re anything travellers spend over and above flights and hotels. They can easily exceed the cost of the trip itself if you’re not watching them.

Fifty dollars here, twenty there – incidental travel spend can add up to far more than you’re spending on flights and accommodation. In 2024, airlines earned $150b (that’s billion, with a ‘B’) just on extras like seat-selection fees, additional checked bags and in-flight food – a 32.5% increase on the previous year. And that figure doesn’t include charges like parking, upgrades or Ubers. In many cases, those charges could have been avoided.

How quickly avoidable trip expenses add up

Did you know? 
Only 2–4% of Flexi Refund tickets ever get used for an actual refund. Flexi-change fares are much less expensive and usually offer as much flexibility as you need.

Work with multiple suppliers

A balanced supplier mix helps reduce travel spend by giving you more choice, stronger negotiating power, and access to better value. It also protects you from price spikes or limited availability.

Sometimes it pays to keep your options open. Rather than sticking to just one hotel chain, airline or rental company, build a list of preferred suppliers. This gives you more options and flexibility that all add up to cost savings. If prices go up or tickets sell out for one airline or hotel, you can switch to the other. It gives you a better chance of securing your ideal routes, timings and rooms without paying a premium.

More competition also means suppliers will fight for your business. You can negotiate better rates, more value-adds like breakfast, wifi and upgrades, and more lenient cancellation terms.

But remember, consolidation is the key to giving you visibility over your travel spend and minimising admin. If you’re going to shop around, make sure that you’re still buying through a single platform.

JB Hi-Fi wins back thousands in travel

JB Hi-Fi has built a reputation for offering quality at cut-rate prices. They can do that by maximising efficiency and cost savings in every part of the organisation – including travel. Working with Corporate Traveller, JB Hi-Fi implemented a centralised booking system and tweaked its travel policy. This immediately gave management better visibility over spend while making life easier for staff. Better booking behaviour meant less waste, and negotiated rates let the company save money without pulling back on quality or volume of travel.

Take care of your travellers

Duty of care means knowing where travellers are and having a plan for when things go wrong. 

Duty of care best practice is a must-do to keep business travellers safe – it’s also a way to protect your business travel budget. Unless you have a plan for what to do when things go wrong, the only way to solve travel problems is to throw money at them. Think about what happens when the last flight of the day is cancelled. Your traveller will probably go into panic mode, grabbing whatever accommodation, rental car or seats are still available. It’s likely those will be the most premium – luxury models, business class seats and penthouse suites.

By contrast, when there’s a clear disruption plan, the traveller knows exactly what to do and who to call to keep stress and costs down.

Two tales of one typhoon

Consider the outcomes of two groups of people, both travelling to a conference in South East Asia. When a typhoon struck, every flight was cancelled. One group had the backing of a travel manager, clear procedures and established supplier agreements. One call and they had accommodation sorted and seats on a chartered flight as soon as the weather cleared.

The cost of their rooms and private flight was nothing compared to what the other group spent. They paid a premium for scarce accommodation and racked up more trip expenses ancillary charges over multiple days as they waited for a seat home. That one trip could have been the difference between blowing the corporate travel budget and one that stayed on track.

Set a travel policy

A good travel policy prevents overspend by telling travellers exactly what to book, when to book it, and the costs the business will and won’t cover.

With so many variables to consider when booking travel, it can feel almost impossible to get right – book the wrong hotel, fare or flight and you’re adding unnecessary spend to every trip. That’s where a travel policy can help. It’s simply a set of guidelines – and hard rules – you and your travellers can follow. This sets expectations and makes things much simpler. Some rules you might include:

• Who approves travel over a certain amount
• Your approved airlines, hotels and car rental companies
• What trip expenses ancillary charges you will and won’t cover – and per-day limits
• When to book more expensive fares and when to go low-cost

Sticking to the policy

Many businesses end up with five- to ten-page travel policies that take months to write, get signed off, and then quietly disappear into a folder.

Working with a TMC like Corporate Traveller can help with this. Rather than a long document, their travel experts will help you distil your policy into a simple, one-page guide or infographic.

Getting people to stick to the policy is also much easier if travellers only book through a dedicated travel management platform. With settings you’ve aligned with your travel policy, the software will warn against or even block inappropriate choices and flag any needing approval.

Ready to take control of your corporate travel budget?

From better timing and smarter fare choices to consolidating bookings and managing incidentals, the biggest savings come from the everyday decisions your travellers make. With the right tools, clear policies and real visibility over spend, you can reduce costs

without reducing the trips that matter. If you want to tighten your travel program, cut unnecessary spend and support your travellers with confidence, we’re here to help. Get in touch with a Corporate Traveller expert and let’s build a travel program that works harder for your business.