Most companies view business travel as an operational cost—an essential part of growth, meetings, and client relationships. However, it often becomes one of the biggest friction points for staff. Recent research from the Global Business Travel Association highlights that trips are getting longer and more complex, while employee flexibility is tightening, making corporate travel productivity a growing challenge for organizations.
The result is the exact same issue expressed in every travel debrief – people return tired, distracted and behind before they even start catching up again.
Luckily, in recent years, corporate travel has changed, but for the most part, company policy needs to catch up. Teams now move through airports with remote setups, hybrid schedules and tighter margins, and company policy needs to account for this and not try to squeeze modern working arrangements into antiquated tick boxes for work travel.
While the expectations are still for employees to show up, perform, and deliver, many schedules don’t allow for this to be done successfully without negative consequences for the entire team.
But business leaders who can correct this and can accommodate new thinking and methods regarding business travel options can fix a lot more than just employee comfort, although that is a great benefit on its own. You can reclaim lost productivity, reduce burnout and even make travel feel easier and more enjoyable.
Start with Travel That Feels Like Work
The first mistake companies make is treating travel time as either a perk or a punishment rather than a structured system. To support corporate travel productivity, work trips should mirror the organization of the office—with clear tools, reliable scheduling, and space for recovery.
It starts with timing; stop defaulting to late-night flights or dawn returns. Build a schedule that respects rest. When a team lands rested, performance stabilises. Fatigue-related decisions are reduced compared to when employees take the red eye or overnight flights – something long recognised but in occupational safety research. This isn’t sustainable when people are travelling to close deals or secure new contracts.
If the budget allows, let employees pick their flight windows within a defined price range. The cost difference usually isn’t that much if you set designated options, but the benefit in engagement is huge; people who control their schedule even slightly handle delays and workloads better.
Make Travel Human Policy
Every company has a travel policy, but few design them with real people in mind. If yours reads like a legal document, it’s already out of touch. The best policies today act more like guides—flexible, transparent, and built around trust—because that’s what truly supports corporate travel productivity.
This means upgrading small things that make a big difference.
- Extending hotel budgets in high-cost cities
- Allowing for one leisure night when schedules are back-to-back
- Adding in recovery time before re-entry into the office
These aren’t luxuries, they’re investments in focus. SAP Concurs 2024 Global Business Travellers Reports found that most employees want a greater choice and flexibility in how they travel, with many saying they’d even refuse a trip that doesn’t allow it. And in a market where retention costs dwarf travel upgrades, this is the smarter spend.
Reduce Friction Everywhere You Can
Friction is what kills productivity on the road. It’s the 40-minute taxi queue, the delayed check-in, the suitcase you have to drag to a meeting because check-out was at 10. Every small delay can turn into stress, and stress eats focus.
That’s where travel support tools come into the picture. Services like luggage storage in dubrovnik, for example, allow you to reduce unforeseen irritation with ease. When your team lands in Dubrovnik or is checking out of the hotel, pre-booking storage for luggage means they can get on with the trip without carrying suitcases or bags with them. It might seem minor, but it can change the entire rhythm of the day.
Another tip is to utilise technology wisely—not by buying new tools for the sake of it, but by ensuring the essentials are streamlined. Transfers, Wi‑Fi access, and expenses should all be handled in just a few clicks. Modern employees shouldn’t need three different apps to check in, upload receipts, or claim miles, and simplifying these processes is key to supporting corporate travel productivity.
Support Wellbeing Without Over-Branding It
“Employee wellness” is a term that gets thrown about a lot. And honestly, the phrase can lose its meaning. But on the road, employee wellness isn’t yoga mats or wellness vouchers, it’s predictability and rest when needed and food that isn’t fried at 2 am after a long haul flight.
Small shifts can make a big difference—such as booking hotels with a gym or pool, or offering per diem flexibility so employees can choose healthier meals when needed. Encouraging staff to schedule one block of downtime during multi‑day trips helps with recovery, not as a perk but as essential maintenance. Deloitte’s 2024 business travel outlook notes that as companies return to near‑normal travel volumes, well‑being has become a measurable performance factor, directly influencing corporate travel productivity in ways that may not appear on a balance sheet but matter just as much.
Build Systems Not Heroics
The goal here isn’t to make travel glamorous again. It’s to make it bearable – repeatable without burnout attached. That requires systems, not slogans.
Think beyond expense reports. Build a library of preferred vendors, support contracts, and travel hacks your employees actually use. Have a one-page guide that answers the real questions.
- What to do if a flight is cancelled mid-meeting
- Where to find short-term storage between checkout and the airport
- How to claim for meals when connections stretch over eight hours.
When travel processes are predictable and people know exactly what to do and the steps they need to follow, people think more clearly, and they can stop wasting effort on logistics and start using it for what they were sent to do.
The reality is that in 2025, corporate travel doesn’t require a complete overhaul, but it must adapt to modern lives and evolving needs. Leaders who approach employee travel as part of a performance strategy rather than simple administration see stronger results, calmer teams, and better alignment between office and hybrid work models. Ultimately, it’s not about making trips luxurious—it’s about ensuring they truly support corporate travel productivity.
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