Corporate travel policies are getting stricter.
Compliance isn’t necessarily improving.
That’s the tension at the heart of new research developed in partnership between ALTOUR and the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) and it’s one most travel managers will recognize immediately.
Across North America, organizations are tightening rules to manage cost, risk, and governance. But the data shows a growing gap between policy design and real-world traveler behavior.
The data reflects North America, but the implications are global.
To explore what’s driving this shift and what it means in practice, ALTOUR and GBTA recently hosted a webinar featuring Dr. John Rose, Chief Risk & Security Officer at ALTOUR, Michael Boult, Chief Commercial Officer, and GBTA’s Mark Sharoff, Senior Research Manager.
Stricter policies, bigger gaps
The study shows a clear move toward tighter governance:
- 32% of travel managers say their policy is stricter than three years ago
- Just 5% say policies have become more lenient
At the same time:
- 51% of policies exceed 10 pages
- 24% run longer than 20 pages
This tightening is happening against a backdrop of growing responsibility. Travel teams are expected to manage cost, duty of care, accessibility, and traveler experience often without additional headcount.
The result? More structure on paper. More friction in practice.
Long policies aren’t just ineffective. They’re a barrier to compliance.
Employees aren’t reading long-form policy documents.
Research cited during the webinar shows average attention spans on a single task have dropped to just 47 seconds. Yet more than half of travel policies exceed 10 pages and only 14% have become shorter in recent years.
It’s no surprise that:
- 32% of employees who break policy do so because they haven’t read or understood it
This isn’t a discipline problem. It’s a design problem.
Leading programs are shifting toward a layered approach:
- A comprehensive policy for governance
- A simplified, one-page version for everyday use
- Bite-sized, role-specific guidance delivered in the moment
Video is emerging as a powerful tool. 64% of travel managers say they would value AI-generated video explainers to communicate policy clearly and consistently.
Compliance isn’t failing because of intent. It’s failing because of experience.
The biggest compliance challenge remains booking outside approved channels.
- 87% of programs require managed booking tools
- Yet 35% say out-of-channel booking is still their top issue
Hotel leakage remains a major concern, with 28% citing out-of-policy hotel bookings as a key challenge.
Travelers aren’t deliberately ignoring policy. They’re making choices based on convenience, familiarity, perceived value, and loyalty benefits.
The implication is clear: If the compliant path feels harder, slower, or more limited – travelers will find alternatives.
Forward-thinking programs are responding by:
- Expanding content within approved tools, including web rates alongside negotiated rates
- Improving visibility so travelers don’t feel the need to shop elsewhere
- Using payment strategies, such as virtual cards, to reduce incentives for out-of-policy booking
While policies tighten on cost, risk is still being underweighted
Risk, accessibility, and inclusion remain underdeveloped in many travel policies.
- Only 13% of policies strongly address accessibility
- Just 19% provide clear guidance for diverse traveler needs
At the same time, real-world incidents continue to highlight the consequences of poor visibility and unmanaged travel, particularly when bookings are made outside approved channels.
Executive and guest travel adds further complexity:
- 35% of companies have separate policies for senior leaders
- Only 13% have formal policies for non-employees
Without clear, consistent frameworks, exceptions become informal and risk becomes harder to manage.
Leading organizations are addressing this by:
- Formalizing policies for executives and guest travelers
- Defining higher safety standards for lodging and transport
- Ensuring duty-of-care coverage extends across all traveler types
What “good” looks like: benchmarks that matter
The research provides practical benchmarks across key categories:
Air travel
- 64% allow Premium Economy at least sometimes
- Business Class is commonly permitted for flights over 5–6 hours
- 58% never allow Basic Economy due to restrictions
Hotels
- 53% prohibit homesharing platforms
- Only 30% use fixed rate caps – many rely on “reasonable” pricing guidance
Meals & ground
- 75% set meal limits or per diems
- Ground transport policies remain flexible, balancing cost and convenience
These benchmarks aren’t about conformity. They’re about understanding where your program stands and where it may be out of sync with peers or traveler expectations.
The shift: from policy document to embedded experience
At ALTOUR, we see this as a fundamental shift.
Travel policy is no longer just a document. It’s an operational framework that needs to be embedded into booking tools, data, and the traveler experience itself.
The programs getting this right are not writing longer policies. They’re redesigning how policy is delivered.
That includes:
- Embedding guidance directly into booking and expense platforms
- Using AI to generate personalized, real-time policy prompts
- Delivering policy through formats travelers actually engage with, not static PDFs
The bottom line
Travel policy isn’t failing because organizations aren’t trying hard enough.
It’s failing because the model hasn’t kept up with how people actually book and travel today.
The takeaway is clear:
- Stricter policies alone won’t fix compliance
- Longer documents won’t improve understanding
- Enforcement without better delivery will continue to fall short
The future of travel management isn’t tighter control. It’s smarter control.
That means designing policies that are:
- Adaptive
- Data-driven
- Embedded in the flow of booking and travel
For travel leaders, this isn’t a policy update. It’s a mindset shift.
Explore the findings
Download the full report to benchmark your program 👉 https://hello.altour.com/gbta-travel-policy-report-2026
Or connect with ALTOUR to assess where your policy is helping and where it may be holding you back 👉 https://altour.com/contact/
