Spread the love

Post Views: 25

Disruption used to be the unwelcome guest at the corporate travel table. Now it appears to have pulled up a chair, ordered coffee and settled in for the long haul.

That is the clear warning from travel risk intelligence specialist Riskline: resilience is moving from the edge of corporate travel programs to the centre.

For travel management companies, technology providers and corporate buyers, the change is significant. Geopolitical tension, extreme weather, aviation delays, health events and fast-changing entry rules can now collide within the same trip. A problem that begins in one city can quickly ripple across airline networks, airports, hotels and onward connections.

The scale of the challenge is already measurable. Perk’s 2025 Business Travel Disruption survey found that 89 per cent of business travellers in the United States and Europe experienced disruption, the highest level recorded in three years. Travellers lost an average of four hours and 45 minutes on each disrupted trip, while 39 per cent said they worked longer hours to catch up.

For companies, that is not simply an inconvenience. It means lost time, missed meetings, higher costs and stressed employees.

For TMCs, it also raises the bar.

TMCs are being asked to do more

Corporate clients still expect good fares, broad content, sound technology and reliable service. Increasingly, however, they also want confidence that their travellers will be supported when plans fall apart.

Laura Welsh, Riskline’s Head of Global Partnerships and Customer Success, argues that the industry’s task is not merely to move quickly. It is to turn fast-moving information into clear decisions for real travellers and clients.

That is the heart of the issue.

Travel teams are not short of information. During a major disruption, they may be dealing with airline notices, government advisories, supplier messages, news reports, social media and internal updates at the same time.

The real task is deciding what matters, who is at risk and what action should follow.

Risk intelligence can help answer those questions. It can guide decisions about whether a trip should proceed, what extra safeguards may be needed and how a traveller should be supported before, during and after the journey.

One event can disrupt an entire journey

Modern travel disruption rarely stays neatly inside one border.

A security event can close airspace and force airlines to reroute aircraft. Severe weather can shut an airport, damage roads and reduce hotel availability. A rule change can stop a traveller at check-in or at the border.

That means travel managers must look beyond the destination itself.

Welsh’s point is that the destination is only part of the picture. Travel managers also need to understand what an incident means for the traveller’s full journey and what decisions may be required next.

Knowing that an incident has happened is only the first step. The value lies in knowing what it means for a real person with a real booking and a real business reason to travel.

More alerts do not always mean better support

Riskline’s case is also a warning against information overload.

More alerts can create more noise. During a fast-moving event, a travel manager does not need 20 versions of the same problem. They need clear facts, context and a view of what may happen next.

Reliable risk intelligence, in other words, is valuable when it explains the likely impact, identifies who may be affected and helps teams decide whether action is needed.

That is where the partnership between TMCs, specialist risk providers and technology becomes important.

TMCs know the traveller, the booking and the client. Risk specialists bring wider monitoring and analysis. Technology links the two and helps get useful information to the right people quickly.

“The value is created at the intersection,” Welsh said.

Corporate travel already has plenty of technology. Resilience does not have to mean adding another dashboard to a screen that is already glowing like an airport departures board at Christmas.

Often, the stronger answer is better connection between existing systems, trusted partners and clearly defined response plans.

Resilience is becoming part of the sales pitch

The commercial lesson for TMCs is hard to miss.

When a trip runs smoothly, the value of travel management can be almost invisible. When something goes wrong, it becomes very visible indeed.

A stranded traveller is unlikely to be impressed by a glossy presentation about duty of care. They want to know who can help, what their options are and what happens next.

That makes resilience part of the service proposition, not merely an emergency function.

For corporate buyers, the questions are becoming more practical. Can the TMC identify affected travellers quickly? Can it contact them? Can it provide accurate advice? Can it support a traveller when the original itinerary is no longer workable?

Those questions are increasingly tied to trust.

Riskline argues that the answer does not require every TMC to build every capability itself. Instead, stronger outcomes can come from combining the strengths of travel managers, risk specialists and technology partners.

“Disruption is here to stay. Our ability to respond to it can be stronger together.”

The first sentence now feels less like a warning and more like a statement of fact.

The second is the industry’s opportunity.

For business travel, resilience is no longer the emergency folder dusted off on a bad day. It is becoming part of the everyday machinery of the travel program and, increasingly, part of what clients will expect their TMC to get right.

Worthwhile reading: Perk’s 2025 Business Travel Disruption Survey provides the supporting disruption data, while Riskline’s full analysis examines how TMCs and partners can build stronger travel-risk resilience. Perk: 2025 Business Travel Disruption Survey and Riskline: Disruption Is Here to Stay.