There was a time when the biggest fear facing a business traveller in Southeast Asia was missing a connecting flight in Bangkok or accidentally ordering a plate of chilli so powerful it could melt a company credit card. Not anymore.

According to a new study from the Global Business Travel Association and Grab Holdings, today’s road warriors are increasingly stressed by something far more mundane: getting from A to B without losing their sanity, their receipts, or their reimbursement claims.

And in a region where business travel is booming faster than airport lounge champagne consumption on a Friday afternoon, that should concern corporate leaders enormously.

The comprehensive study, which surveyed 1,200 business travellers across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, paints a revealing portrait of modern business travel in Southeast Asia, one where convenience often outruns company policy, and stressed employees are quietly bypassing approved systems simply to survive the work trip.

For the full report, visit GBTA APAC Business Traveller Experience 2026 Study.

The Great Ground Transport Disconnect

If ever there was proof that corporate travel policies are often written by people who haven’t battled Jakarta traffic at 6 pm in tropical humidity, this report delivers it in glorious technicolour.

A remarkable 83 per cent of respondents admitted they use ground transportation options outside company policy or approved vendors. Even more tellingly, while 95 per cent of travellers regularly use ride-hailing services, only 58 per cent said their employers formally manage or integrate those services into travel programmes.

That gap is not merely administrative. It is operational chaos disguised as policy compliance.

Employees are left wondering whether their transport costs will actually be reimbursed, while companies lose visibility over spending, safety standards and traveller movements. In practical terms, it means many organisations are still trying to run 2026 travel programmes using thinking borrowed from the taxi-voucher era.

Suzanne Neufang, CEO of the GBTA, summed up the issue succinctly.

“Southeast Asia represents some of the world’s fastest-growing business travel markets, and this research shines a light on the critical programme gaps and real-world traveller needs shaping the region today especially around safety, expense challenges, and technology expectations.”

Quite right too.

Because if a company traveller lands in Ho Chi Minh City at midnight after three delayed flights and the official policy recommends “approved local transport providers”, chances are the exhausted employee will happily choose the first reliable ride-hailing app offering air-conditioning and a driver who knows where the hotel is.

Corporate policy manuals rarely survive first contact with reality.

Transport Stress Now Rivals Flight Delays

The findings reveal that ground transport is no longer a secondary issue in business travel. It has become central to the traveller experience.

Nearly 78 per cent rely on transport for airport-to-hotel transfers. Another 71 per cent use it to reach offices and client meetings, while 70 per cent rely on it for early-morning airport runs.

Yet nearly one-third of respondents identified navigating unfamiliar transport systems as the single most stressful part of a business trip.

That ranked ahead of flight issues, accommodation concerns and even delayed meetings.

Frankly, anyone who has attempted to decipher a foreign-language train network while balancing luggage, laptop bags, and corporate dignity will understand entirely.

The survey also found:

• 54 per cent struggle with limited transport availability during the early or late hours.
• 53 per cent face long wait times.
• 44 per cent cited unclear pricing as a major frustration.
• Nearly half associated business-trip transportation with negative emotions, including stress, uncertainty and feeling rushed.

In other words, the humble trip from airport to hotel has become the emotional equivalent of a quarterly earnings call.

Safety Isn’t Optional Anymore

The report makes another point crystal clear: business travellers increasingly prioritise safety above virtually everything else.

An overwhelming 75 per cent rated safety as “extremely important” when selecting transportation.

The most valued features included:

• Verified and professional drivers.
• Clear driver and vehicle identification.
• Emergency support tools.
• Live trip sharing.
• In-app journey tracking.

That preference reflects broader shifts across global travel, where travellers now expect the same digital reassurance from transport providers that they receive from airlines, banks and hotels.

The days of climbing into an unmarked cab outside an unfamiliar airport simply because someone waved enthusiastically are rapidly disappearing and probably for the best.

Ride-Hailing Has Already Won

Perhaps the study’s least surprising finding is that ride-hailing has effectively become the default transport option for business travel across Southeast Asia.

An extraordinary 88 per cent of respondents said ride-hailing apps are their preferred mode of transport during work trips.

Why?

Because they work.

Travellers cited convenience, availability, reliability, ease of use in unfamiliar locations and transparent pricing as key reasons.

Valerie Khoo, Regional Head of Grab For Business, believes the solution is obvious.

“This research highlights a transformative opportunity for companies to improve their travel programmes. Off-policy bookings are a signal of a larger issue: misalignment between approvals and real-world traveller needs.”

She added that enterprise-friendly digital tools can streamline transport booking and expense management while improving policy compliance and traveller wellbeing.

And therein lies the real message of this report.

Employees are not rebelling against corporate policy for sport. They are choosing systems that actually function in real-world travel conditions.

There is a difference.

Expense Claims: The Corporate Horror Story Continues

If transport is stressful, expense claims remain the administrative equivalent of stepping barefoot onto Lego.

Nearly half of the respondents spend more than 20 minutes submitting expenses after each trip. Meanwhile, 57 per cent admitted they either delay the process or consider it an unpleasant chore.

No shock there.

Some corporate expense systems still appear to have been designed during the fax-machine boom years, demanding receipts, screenshots, itemised breakdowns and enough supporting evidence to satisfy a royal commission.

Meanwhile, travellers simply want to finish the paperwork before their next boarding call.

The study found 93 per cent of respondents want a single unified platform to manage ground transportation and meal expenses across Southeast Asia.

That is a staggering number and a very loud signal to travel managers.

Business travellers increasingly expect integrated systems in which booking, payment, expense tracking, and policy compliance occur automatically and seamlessly.

Not eventually.

Not after uploading seven blurry receipts.

Automatically.

The Future of Corporate Travel Is Simpler

This research arrives at a pivotal moment for Southeast Asia’s corporate travel sector.

Business travel volumes are surging across the region, digital adoption is accelerating, and employees now expect travel technology to operate with the same ease as consumer apps.

Companies ignoring that shift risk more off-policy behaviour, weaker cost visibility, lower employee satisfaction and potentially greater traveller safety exposure.

Those embracing integrated travel systems, however, stand to gain stronger compliance, happier travellers and better operational oversight.

That sounds less like a technology upgrade and more like common sense finally catching up with modern travel.

And in business travel, common sense has occasionally been known to miss the connection.

by Alison Jenkins – (c) 2026.

Read Time: 6 minutes.

About the Author.

Alison Jenkins has lived most of her working life in the slipstream of aviation, where timetables matter, and people matter more. In airline sales, she built a reputation the old-fashioned way: by knowing her clients, her routes, and never missing the human detail.

Quick with a smile, quicker with a solution, she made deals with warmth and kept her edge intact.

Trade shows, FAMILS, airport lounges and hotel lobbies became her second address. And somewhere along the way, notebook in hand, she began writing the journeys rather than selling them. Her reports grew lively, observant, full of the small truths only travellers notice.

That was the moment it dawned on her: she wasn’t simply travelling. She belonged in its stories.

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