Four in five business travelers “never” or “rarely” choose out-of-policy options, according to an April 2024 BCD Travel poll of 1,201 business travelers worldwide. Seventeen percent indicated they sometimes chose out-of-policy options, 3 percent said they “often” did and 1 percent picked “always.”

BCD’s survey touched on why a sizable fraction of respondents sometimes choose out-of-policy options when planning trips. Thirty-one percent cited client-driven needs, 28 percent mentioned conferences or events (conference hotel rates are not usually available in preferred booking channels), and 19 percent said hotel rate caps were too low. Among the less-cited reasons were “personal benefits, e.g., ‘bleisure‘ or accumulating loyalty points,” at 5 percent. 

Building on tools like reason codes — which allow travelers to indicate why they need an out-of-policy option — pre-travel authorization and price assurance technology helps to increase confidence in accessing the best fares and rates.

Seventy-seven percent of respondents to BCD’s traveler survey had taken at least three trips in the prior year. Ninety-six percent said their firms had written policies.

The Company Dime archive includes education on such travel and expense policies as lowest logical airfares, class of service, booking channels and meal reimbursement, as well as articles about policy compliance.