BCD survey reveals gap between travel policy and traveler compliance

16.07.2024 - 10:21 / traveldailynews.com / Theodore Koumelis

Despite high awareness of company travel policies among business travelers, a BCD Travel survey reveals a significant gap in compliance, with deviations often due to inflexible or unresponsive policies, highlighting the need for more adaptable and traveler-centric regulations.

UTRECHT, THE NETHERLANDS – While many business travelers know of and often refer to their company’s travel policy, there’s still a gap between policy awareness and policy compliance, according to a recent BCD Travel survey of 1,200+ business travelers worldwide. The survey looked at changes in travel policies and traveler satisfaction with current regulations.

In a corresponding April survey of 200+ travel buyers, BCD found that two-thirds of travel buyers consider their travel policy to be extremely or very effective.

On the surface, this statistic seems to hold true when business travelers are asked about their company’s travel policy. The survey shows that more than 95% of travelers know where to find the travel policy, and nine out of 10 have consulted it (with a quarter doing so frequently). Eight out of 10 travelers have consulted their travel policy within the past 12 months. And half are satisfied with the policy.

Craig Bailey, President, Americas, BCD Travel

“Based on our survey results, travelers in NORAM are less inclined to consult their corporation’s travel policy compared to travelers from APAC and Europe,” said Craig Bailey, President, Americas at BCD. “This could result in more out-of-policy bookings. While these bookings create extra costs and, in some cases, risk issues, the lack of awareness around policy changes could also hurt the organization’s overall goals, for instance, regarding sustainability.”

One factor contributing to this behavior may be the frequency around travel policy communications. A quarter of APAC travelers reported receiving communications about their travel policy often compared to only 15% of NORAM travelers.

The survey shows that more than two-thirds of travelers deviate from their company’s travel policy. Most often, this is due to client meetings requiring out-of-policy transportation or accommodation or booking conference and event accommodations with non-preferred suppliers. As a result, traveling employees often need additional approvals for non-compliant bookings.

Companies can boost travel policy compliance through employee involvement and engagement. BCD provides expert advice on how to build a strategy to maximize compliance, including integrating solutions that travelers want to use, with the data insights travel managers need to influence behavior.

Over one in five travelers said their company’s travel policy isn’t responsive to traveler needs or is too restrictive. In fact,