Payment and expense management continues to be a major bugbear for corporate travellers, with one in four reporting their company¡¯s travel expense processes are too complicated, according to TravelPerk research.

The Spain-based TMC commissioned a survey in March of 4,000 business travellers from across the UK, US, Germany, and Spain (1,000 from each) to quantify the ¡°toll of outdated expense processes¡± on employees.

The study revealed 83 per cent of business travellers struggle to reconcile trip expenses, while 24 per cent said they don¡¯t have the time to submit claims.

Nearly one in five survey respondents (19 per cent) said they don¡¯t know what¡¯s reimbursable, and one in four (25 per cent) worry about going over budget, highlighting gaps in travel and expense policies ¨C or the need to better communicate policy information.

More than a third (36 per cent) of corporate travellers still book business trips through consumer travel platforms, the research found, while 25 per cent admit to losing receipts while on trips.

Additionally, 26 per cent of respondents said they use their personal credit cards for large purchases related to business travel and a further 28 per cent reported experiencing delays in reimbursements.

TravelPerk said the findings underscore the importance of automated expense processing and integrating policy guidelines within the booking workflow to drive compliance.

"Travel expenses dominate company P&Ls, yet most businesses still subject employees to manual, disconnected processes that our research shows creates real financial hardship," said TravelPerk CFO, Roy Hefer.

"By embedding policy at the point of booking and through the expense claim process, automating things like receipt matching with AI, and optimising the whole process, you¡¯re not only freeing up your employees¡¯ day from unnecessary paperwork, but also giving them back their time to focus on what really matters,¡± he said.