INSIGHT
Will AI replace humans in corporate travel?
The short answer is, no. Artificial intelligence (AI) won’t replace humans in corporate travel, but it can make your corporate travel programme more resilient than ever. Imagine a traveller in Frankfurt. It’s 3 am, their connecting flight is cancelled, the next available seat isn’t until late the following afternoon, and an important client meeting hangs in the balance. For travel managers, this isn’t hypothetical, it’s a Tuesday.
Now picture an AI-driven system that rebooks the traveller on an earlier connection, finds a hotel within walking distance, updates the itinerary, and alerts both traveller and manager, all within minutes. That’s the operational shift artificial intelligence (AI) is hinting at in managed travel. But as industry leaders at an FCM Consulting roundtable stressed, AI is a partner, not a replacement. Here is more from their conversation.
Where is AI already adding value?
AI in most businesses has taken off and many are using it to optimise existing processes rather than re-inventing the wheel.
- Automating repetitive tasks. Rebooking cancelled flights, updating itineraries, triple checking policy compliance, and entering data.
- Predicting and preventing disruptions. Flagging potential issues such as storms before they happen, helping managers proactively suggest alternatives and keeping airlines aware.
- Enhancing traveller experience. Immediate, personalised responses to itinerary changes, destination specifics, and company policy rules,
- Supporting decision-making. Analysing large volumes of data, helping travel managers see patterns and make more informed choices for policy, cost optimisation, and supplier selection.
There’s no doubt that AI is transforming the travel experience. According to John Morhous, Flight Centre Travel Group's chief experience officer,“AI has the power to enhance intelligence and creativity while deepening our expertise and insight. This presents us with unprecedented opportunities that extend to every touch point.” But For UK-based Ian Spearing, Global Travel Manager at Arcadis, AI’s potential is less about flashy future visions and more about solving the pain points. “It’s the quiet, unglamorous wins that matter. If AI can take away repetitive manual tasks—rebooking, data entry, policy checks—we free up human teams to focus on things that really require judgement.”
Colleen Kearney, a global managed travel consultant, noted that many companies have barely scratched the surface.
“The real opportunity is when we think about the bigger picture. How AI can connect the dots across our ecosystem. It’s not just reacting to problems but predicting and preventing them.” That predictive capability is already visible in some corporate travel programmes.
Daniel Senyard, FCM’s SVP of Commercial Platforms and Innovation noted “We’re seeing AI flag potential disruptions before they happen. For example, recognising a storm pattern that might affect flights and proactively suggesting alternatives,” he said. “It’s not just about efficiency, it’s about resilience.”
How do humans fit in with AI?
Despite AI’s benefits to corporate travel programmes, human expertise remains indispensable. Now more than ever.
“Travel is a people business,” says Kearney. “AI can crunch data but can’t negotiate with suppliers or interpret cultural nuances and how that might impact travel behaviour”. Ian Spearing added that in moments of crisis, empathy is irreplaceable, “If something goes wrong halfway around the world, the traveller wants to know there’s a human being who cares about getting them home.”
For Jo Lloyd, this highlights that the future is about partnership between humans and AI. “The best outcomes happen when technology is doing what it’s best at, like processing huge amounts of information quickly, and people are doing what they’re best at: making decisions, solving complex problems, and delivering care,” she said.
Making travel programmes more resilient
Ask the experts from FCM Consulting’s discussion, and they all agree that when introducing AI, you should start small. “AI isn’t the destination,” explains FCM’s Daniel Senyard. “It’s a tool that can help us build more resilient, more responsive, and more human-centred travel programmes. But it’s still the people who set the course.”
AI and business travel questions travel managers are asking (answered)
We asked ChatGPT what travel managers ask it the most about AI in business travel. Here’s what it gave us and what we recommend.
| What is AI in business travel? | Ai is the use of intelligent systems to analyse data, predict outcomes, automate tasks, and generate recommendations, anything from chatbots or virtual assistants handling itinerary changes to safety and risk platforms predicting flight delays based on weather patterns. |
|---|---|
| How are travel managers using AI today? | AI is making the booking process easier, enforcing and refining policy, monitoring trip risk, aiding supplier sourcing, providing 24/7 traveller support, forecasting costs, and personalising experiences. Most programmes optimise existing processes rather than starting from scratch. |
| How does AI help travellers and arrangers? | Travellers receive faster updates and responses, along with tailored options based on previous behaviour, ultimately creating a better journey. Arrangers gain time back from admin or meetings and have more accurate data for strategic decisions. |
| What are the benefits of AI in business travel? | AI can create simplify bookings, highlight cost savings, create stronger traveller satisfaction, manage disruption, scale for global programmes, and provide data insights. |
| What are the limits of AI in corporate travel? | AI cannot replicate empathy, nuanced judgment, cultural knowledge, or relationship building. It also has no emotional intelligence (EQ). Poor data or bias can also cause errors. Privacy, ethics, and cybersecurity must be managed, and overreliance risks eroding human expertise and trust. |
| What’s next for AI in business travel? | We expect AI to be embedded into more and more everyday systems, but humans to remain in control of those systems. Generative AI will help remove workplace grind and leave teams to focus on higher-value work and personal interaction. It will also help creative itinerary design, scenario planning, and risk simulation. AI integration will become the standard, but we will definitely start to see stronger regulatory oversight from countries because of this. |
For more insights and forecasts like this, download the full FCM Consulting Insights Report.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Is AI replacing travel consultants?
No, will not replace travel consultants. AI is a tool to help travel consultants, not replace them. It handles repetitive, data-heavy tasks like itinerary updates, enquiries, booking and price comparisons, or risk. Freeing consultants to focus on high-touch services such as complex bookings, VIP travel, supplier relationships, and traveller support.
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Is AI safe for business travel data?
Yes, AI is safe for business travel when managed properly. AI systems and the data the data that goes in and comes out must still comply with privacy regulations and data security standards. This is another area where human oversight must remain to monitor data quality and prevent misuse. AI will amplify efficiency but the age-old need for privacy, accountability, transparency, and ethical governance still exist.
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Can AI reduce corporate travel costs?
AI can support cost savings by identifying cheaper booking options, optimising routes, and highlighting price trends. It also reduces inefficiencies by automating repetitive tasks, and provides rich data, giving travel managers more time and leverage to negotiate with suppliers and enforce policy.
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How does AI personalise business travel?
AI can analyse traveller preferences, loyalty programmes, past behaviour, location details, and policy requirements. Then suggest tailored itineraries, hotel options, and transport choices. A bit like FCM’s virtual business travel assistant, Sam. Though, humans remain essential to refine and interpret these recommendations, and, of course, manage exceptions or special requests.