How to keep business travel spending down as inflation rises

Last updated: July 2026

The UK inflation rate has been turbulent in recent years, rising throughout 2025 before dips and troughs that saw it sitting at 2.8% as of April 2026. Inflation and other economic challenges have driven up the costs of everything from staffing and utilities to business travel.

For financial managers and other colleagues looking at upcoming team plans for working travel, this may mean you’re tightening budgets in an attempt to manage and mitigate financial challenges.

Of course, eliminating business trips isn’t a viable solution for most companies. Meetings, industry events, and client visits remain crucial for growth, making each trip a necessary investment. Business travel spending in the UK rose 12% in 2025 among SMEs alone despite inflation, with 62% of those saying they planned to increase their international travel budgets in 2026.

For organisations looking to get the best value for their spend, there are plenty of practical tactics for cutting avoidable costs and focusing finance on the things that matter. From refining expense policies to encouraging advance bookings and bleisure travel, finance teams can ensure that every trip delivers value without unnecessary financial strain.

Key factors driving up business travel spend

The increasing price of airfares, accommodation, and even food and taxi charges can now make business travel a budget issue for some companies. While inflation itself is at the root of the issue, the knock-on effect on both fixed and variable costs means higher daily expenses for teams working away, and unpredictable price fluctuations, which make it tricky to predict the future cost of a trip you’re planning today.

Variable costs

With fuel prices currently at their highest since 2022, it isn’t just taxis, ride-hailing services and car rentals that are impacted. Jet fuel prices have risen so high that some airlines are actually cancelling flights due to higher running costs. In turn, this means the remaining flights available for your next business trips go up in price.

Utility and staffing prices increasing at the same time means that accommodation providers are themselves facing increasingly expensive overheads, leading to an increase in rates. This isn’t a UK-specific challenge, either. With global economic uncertainties, popular destinations for international working travel are also seeing prices rise. 

Other variable costs you may have noticed creeping up in response to inflation include meals, baggage fees, seat selection charges, Wi-Fi prices and toll roads. Though these represent small changes individually, when you combine each aspect of a trip, particularly for a group booking, they quickly add up. 

Fixed costs

While your annual travel insurance policies are a fixed commitment, premiums are rising as insurers respond to the increased costs of overseas medical care and travel disruptions. Other fixed costs that are being hit by rising inflation include staffing and administration, with wage demands being squeezed higher, and long-term lease agreements on company cars and fleets being renewed at higher rates. 

Which brings us to what you most need to know: how to keep your costs down despite these changes.

Strategies for managing travel costs amid inflation

Taking a smarter approach to expense management makes it possible to manage travel costs proactively and avoid unnecessary additional spending. Here are some tips on strategies that can help.

Update travel policies

Business travel managers and finance managers should work together to define a robust business travel policy.

This should include who the approved providers are, whether travellers can only fly economy, for example, and any daily allowances. Regular policy updates and feedback from travellers ensure alignment with rising prices and avoid policy violations.

For example, the policy could mandate that business travellers use cheaper public transport, instead of taxis, where possible, not only bringing costs down but also helping with carbon footprint reduction.

Setting spending limits prevents excessive costs while simplifying approvals. Restrictions on airfare, hotels, or merchant categories help keep budgets in check without restricting necessary travel.

Negotiate with travel partners

Negotiating deals with airlines, hotels, and transport providers reduces travel expenses while ensuring better service. Preferred partnerships offer fixed rates, minimise cost fluctuations, and provide loyalty benefits that enhance the overall travel experience.

For smaller businesses, a lower travel volume can make it harder to negotiate the best deals. That’s where travel and spend management platforms like Perk come in, allowing you to leverage existing partnerships in order to gain access to better rates.

Book travel well in advance

A great tip for keeping business travel spend down is to book flights and hotels as far in advance as you can. 

The “best” time to book flights isn’t perfectly predictable, but the general rules are:

• Don’t wait until the last minute

• Book international flights 3-9 months in advance

• Aim to book 1-3 months out for domestic flights 

Set alerts for flight price drops if you do need to book nearer to travel dates, but know that you’ll pay around 30% less for flights if you plan ahead.

Allow for bleisure add-ons

If your team members are interested in extending their work trip, known as bleisure travel, it could introduce the possibility of colleagues flying outside of peak travel periods, saving your company a big portion of overall flight cost.

Studies show that planning journeys mid-week can save you money on both flights and hotels, with many hotels also offering better rates for travellers staying for longer periods.

Use employee feedback to find savings options

Finance teams can look at what those travelling for work did or didn’t care about when on the trip and use this to identify where they can cut costs, and still keep people happy.

For example, perhaps a hotel was booked that included a gym and a pool, but the team didn’t end up using either. This can be taken into consideration next time, and a cheaper hotel with fewer facilities can be booked without a knock-on impact on morale.

Implement virtual smart cards

Smart corporate cards can enhance spend control by limiting spending proactively rather than reactively. They reduce fraud risks, provide real-time tracking, and simplify reconciliation, making them a valuable tool for managing work travel expenses efficiently. Plus, they reduce the number of administrative hours it takes to process travel spend overall – meaning reduced staffing costs in your expense workflow.

How Perk can help control travel spend

Managing the moving parts of company-wide travel spend can mean heavy administrative friction for finance managers. To get a better grip on your travel spend and processes, Perk automates manual work, reduces compliance risks, and unifies your data for audit-ready financial reporting from day one.

AI-driven real-time analytics

Traditional expense tracking often leads to budget overruns, while Perk’s AI-powered real-time analytics provide instant visibility. This allows finance teams to monitor spending as it happens. Automated tools flag unusual transactions, ensuring compliance and cost control before expenses escalate.

Using these AI-powered analytics to track expenses can also save time on Shadow Work, meaning that finance teams won’t have to spend time doing repetitive non-core tasks such as chasing receipts. You can estimate how many administrative hours your team could win back each week by using our spend management ROI calculator.

Automated approvals

Manual expense approvals slow down reporting and increase the risk of policy violations. Automation eliminates these inefficiencies by enforcing predefined spending rules and approving expenses in real time. 

This streamlines reimbursement processes and ensures that your employees stay within budget without needing constant manual oversight. Your finance teams can focus on cost-saving initiatives, rather than chasing down receipts and expense reports.

Real-time spending alerts

Travel costs can jump unexpectedly if you rely on outdated reports. Perk's real-time alerts notify finance managers the second a transaction steps outside policy boundaries or breaches a specific budget cap. 

Whether it’s an unexpected price fluctuation in airfare or an out-of-policy hotel booking, this level of transparency ensures cost control without restricting necessary travel. 

Save money on your next business trip

With the right combination of a clear business travel policy, automated card controls, and strategic vendor relationships, finance leaders can successfully protect budgets from rising inflation.  

Perk provides the real-time visibility, automations and support needed to eliminate shadow work entirely.  

Costs controlled. Time saved. Productivity boosted.   

Ready to upgrade your company's travel and expense processes? Sign up today for a free demo.