The corporate travel industry is buzzing with AI possibilities. The technology holds genuine promise, and it’s natural to want to integrate it everywhere – from booking interfaces to customer support to expense management.
After spending a year in deep conversations with customers and prospects, along with multiple cycles of building AI prototypes, rolling them out, and scaling them up, we’ve developed a different perspective on where and how to apply AI in business travel. While the intuitive approach might be to add AI features across every touchpoint, we’ve found that a more selective, strategic approach delivers far better results.
Here are the three fundamental pillars that guide our approach to AI implementation in corporate travel.
Pillar 1: Pick the Right Use Case
Not every problem needs an AI solution. More importantly, some problems should never be solved with AI.
Take customer support in corporate travel. We’ve seen countless companies try to replace human agents with chatbots, thinking they’ll save money while maintaining service quality. This is fundamentally wrong.
When business travelers are stranded at an airport because of a cancelled flight, the last thing they need is more stress. What they truly need is immediate, support that eases traveler anxiety. Someone who can step in quickly, think on their feet, negotiate with airlines, and seamlessly coordinate rebookings across multiple systems.
The right use cases for AI in corporate travel are those where speed, pattern recognition, or data processing create genuine value without sacrificing the human touch where it matters most.
Pillar 2: Demand 10x Impact, Not Incremental Improvements
This is where most AI initiatives fail. Companies get excited about marginal improvements – making something 20% faster or slightly more convenient – when they should be looking for transformational change.
Where AI Shows Promise vs. Where It Delivers 10x Impact
1. Travel Booking Personalization (2x impact):
- AI learns traveler preferences and shows relevant recommendations. ITILITE’s business travel platform does this well, understanding individual preferences
- However, there’s still significant work needed to reach that 10x improvement threshold
- Travelers still navigate multiple searches and weigh trade-offs between price, timing, and convenience
2. AI-Powered Analytics (True 10x impact):
“When a CFO asks ‘How can we save $100,000 from travel spend?’ Traditional analysis means weeks of manual work, spreadsheet wrestling, and educated guesswork. Our Mastermind tool immediately identifies specific opportunities: unused policy savings, route optimizations, preferred vendor negotiations – complete with projected savings and implementation steps. The difference isn’t 20% faster; it’s the difference between weeks of work and immediate answers.“
–Â Rahul Golecha, Chief Product and technology Officer at itilite
3. Custom Reporting (True 10x impact):
- Traditional TMCs take ~1 week to create custom reports
- Even in self-serve travel tools, users spend time learning platforms and designing formats
- AI approach revolutionalizes this: Get exact reports by describing needs in plain text
4. Voice Automation (True 10x impact):
- AI voice bots call hotels in advance for credit card authorization, ensuring hassle-free check-ins
- Post-booking voice bots retrieve detailed folios and payment information – crucial for client reimbursement scenarios
- These solve real operational headaches that currently require significant manual effort
Pillar 3: Security and Governance Must Come First
User data protection isn’t a nice-to-have feature – it’s the foundation that determines whether your AI implementation succeeds or creates a compliance nightmare.
Corporate travel data is incredibly sensitive. It reveals employee locations, spending patterns, client relationships, and business priorities. One data breach or mishandled AI query could expose competitive information or violate privacy regulations. Here are the core pillars of Security and Governance which are essential to be established
1. Data Protection & Privacy
- End-to-end encryption for all data storage and transmission (SSL/TLS connections)
- Data minimization practices with strict retention policies to reduce exposure
- Transparent privacy policies outlining data handling and user rights
2. Regulatory Compliance
- Adherence to global data laws (GDPR, CCPA, and regional requirements)
- PCI-DSS standards for payment processing to ensure cardholder safety
- Platform-specific compliance including app store guidelines
3. Risk Management & Monitoring
- Regular risk assessments to identify vulnerabilities and emerging threats
- Real-time monitoring for both cyber and physical traveler safety
- Proactive fraud detection and prevention built into the platform
4. Secure Infrastructure & Authentication
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA) for logins and sensitive actions
- Secure APIs and third-party integrations through OAuth and regular vulnerability testing
- Principle of least privilege applied across all internal roles
The Reality Check
The corporate travel industry needs AI implementations that solve real problems, create measurable value, and protect sensitive information. This isn’t about having the latest technology – it’s about making business travel genuinely better for companies and their employees.
Too many vendors are selling AI solutions that sound impressive in demos but fall apart when confronted with the messy realities of corporate travel management. The companies that succeed will be those that focus on substantial impact, choose appropriate use cases, and never compromise on security.
The future of AI in business travel isn’t about replacing everything with automation. It’s about strategically applying AI where it can create genuine transformation while preserving the human expertise that complex travel scenarios demand.
That’s the approach that actually works.
