Blog

How can technology help tackle business travel friction?

January 29, 2025
Last updated: February 13, 2025
4 min read
Available in other languages
EN DE ES FR
Friction Removed
Mark Cullen
Mark Cullen
Chief Commercial Officer, Amadeus Cytric Solutions
Share it!

One of the key takeaways from Amadeus’Friction Removed research is that many travelers encounter unique pain points during a trip. While there are common threads – including passing through the airport, concerns around delays, and complexity in the booking process – our study found no two journeys are the same.

Nowhere is this more accurate than in the business travel sector. Those who travel for work not only spend more time on the road than most leisure travelers, but they also face specific travel challenges that need to be addressed.

Here, we will explore what those business traveler frustrations look like and how Amadeus, along with the wider travel ecosystem, is working to overcome them to build a frictionless travel experience.

Keeping tight schedules

We spoke to more than 500 business travelers as part of our research, to learn more about the range of frustrations they face. A top concern is the tight schedules and strict timelines that business trips often involve.

Unlike leisure travel, where flexibility and relaxation are the norm, business travelers must adhere to fixed itineraries and deadlines. Flight delays, cancellations and unexpected disruptions can significantly impact the ability to attend important meetings or events leading to increased stress.

In response, some 58 percent of business traveler survey respondents say they want to see more self-service options when it comes to booking travel – and Amadeus’ sees this technology as a great opportunity to reduce friction.

Amadeus Travel APIs, for example, allow our partners to enable traveler self-servicing in point-of-sale tools, whether third party online booking tools or proprietary. With access to over 400 airlines, 150,000 hotels and 300,000 tours and activities, business travelers have the opportunity to personally build – or re-build – the appropriate trip itinerary to meet schedule limitations and preferences.

Driving the value of every trip

Through the Friction Removed research, many business travelers also expressed concerns around the overall cost and planning of trips. For example, finding cost-effective flights that align with both schedules and company budgets can be challenging because business travelers must often book trips on short notice, limiting the ability to find affordable options.

Expense management during travel, like keeping meticulous track of receipts and ensuring reimbursement for travel expenses, adds another layer of friction.

A new generation of travel management tools

End-to-end travel and expense solution Amadeus Cytric is helping to overcome these challenges. The solution is designed to provide a frictionless, intuitive and reliable experience to business travelers by seamlessly embedding Cytric capabilities within everyday collaborative applications like Microsoft Teams. It makes planning, booking and approving transport and accommodation as well as managing travel expenses faster, easier and more efficient.

Through innovation using Generative Artificial Intelligence (Generative AI) with Microsoft Copilot and an unwavering commitment to customer-centricity, we aspire to be the preferred choice for businesses seeking to optimize the use of their existing productivity platforms.

Building value through collaboration

Amadeus Cytric offers new types of collaboration functionalities that increase the value of each trip thanks to interaction and strengthened social capital, for example, by suggesting connections with colleagues at the office travelers are visiting.

Share my Transfer informs colleagues they are arriving at the same airport or rail station at a similar time, and suggests that they travel together, to be both more cost-efficient and sustainable, while Share my Trip allows travelers to share itineraries with colleagues in a simple card within Microsoft Teams chats.

Match my Trip means travelers can easily book the same flights and/or hotel as colleagues from a shared card in a Microsoft Teams chat. While Event Manager simplifies travel and stay coordination among attendees globally, it also creates a dedicated channel in Microsoft Teams to centralize all event information, including agendas, weather information, documents and venues.

At the same time, Amadeus Travel Platform provides comprehensive access to content from a variety of sources, enabling efficient comparison shopping with corporate policy information included. With access to a wide range of content, business travelers have the opportunity to create personalized itineraries, that meet their needs.

Removing frustrations from travel is an industry-wide, collaborative process, incrementally making each journey better through fresh innovation. While business travelers face a series of unique challenges, research studies like Friction Removed allow us to deepen our understanding of them and design the right solutions.

TO TOP

TO TOP