In Brief: Business travel demand is expected to rise in 2027, but companies continue to face gaps between traveler needs and management priorities, with a survey of 1,752 travelers and corporate travel and finance managers finding broad support for business trips alongside continued reliance on manual expense work, disconnected systems, off-platform booking and human assistance during disruptions.
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Navan Finds Business Travel Demand Is Set to Rise as Expense Friction Continues – Image Credit Navan
Survey Findings
Navan released the 2027 State of Corporate Travel and Expense Report with Skift. The findings are based on responses collected in August 2026 from 1,752 people in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. The sample included 994 business travelers and 758 corporate travel and finance managers across 20 industry sectors.
The survey found that 87% of travelers and 89% of managers considered business travel essential. Among travelers, 58% expected to travel more in 2027, while 71% expected to attend more meetings and events with colleagues. In the 12 months through August 2026, 49% of travelers took at least six business trips, compared with 40% two years earlier.
Traveler Sentiment and Disruptions
Most travelers viewed business trips positively, but their views of trip administration were less favorable. Eighty-three percent felt positive about business trips overall, compared with 73% who felt positive about booking, changing reservations, submitting expenses and obtaining support.
Disruptions were a leading concern for 58% of travelers, but only 31% of managers identified them as a major traveler concern. When a disruption occurred, 45% of travelers called a person immediately. Only 5% handled the situation entirely through self-service tools.
Booking Behavior
Off-platform booking also remained common. Seventy-five percent of travelers said they sometimes booked outside their company’s designated platform, down 7 percentage points over two years. Managers overestimated how often travelers cited each reason for booking elsewhere.
Expense Processes
Automation has expanded across corporate expense systems, but manual processes continue. Forty-five percent of managers described their expense process as highly or fully automated. The same share said some review, approval or reconciliation work was still completed manually.
Nearly half of travelers said they spent at least one hour filing an expense report. Twenty-one percent spent two hours or more.
AI and Data Use
Among managers, 58% reported access to AI-powered fraud detection, and 54% said they could see unified travel and expense data in real time. However, 35% still exported data to spreadsheets to identify potential savings.
Unified Systems and Switching Barriers
Demand for combined travel and expense systems was high among both groups. Seventy-nine percent of managers and 76% of travelers said they wanted a unified solution. Concerns about training and operational disruption from changing systems had declined since 2025, while cost concerns remained.