2026 Travel Programs: A Checklist for Growing Businesses.

A simple guide to help growing businesses run safer, smarter and more efficient travel programs this year.

1. Start the year with a clear travel strategy

• Confirm your travel objectives for 2026 aligned to your sales growth, client relationships, training, and internal collaboration objectives.
• Reassess your travel categories and who needs to travel most often.
• Align travel policy settings with your business goals, not just last year’s habits

2. Review and refresh your travel policy

• Ensure rules are easy to understand and simple for employees to follow.
• Check approval processes and remove bottlenecks where possible.
• Update accommodation, airfare and expense guidelines to reflect current market conditions and employee expectations.
• Clarify what’s ‘essential’, what’s flexible and what’s optional.

3. Strengthen duty of care

• Confirm traveller tracking and emergency response processes.
• Review after-hours support and escalation points.
• Make sure new starters understand your travel safety expectations before their first trip.
• Work with your TMC to audit your risk procedures and close any gaps.

4. Put traveller experience at the centre

• Ask frequent and infrequent travellers what slows them down when travelling for business.
• Prioritise comfort, clarity and predictability – small improvements to the travel experience can have big returns on productivity and performance.
• Ensure itineraries support productivity (reasonable flight times, enough rest, workable schedules).
• Provide travellers with easy access to help when plans change.

5. Check your travel tech for efficiency

• Check whether your team are full leveraging their online booking and reporting tools to reduce workload and drive efficiency.
• Integrate systems where possible so employees aren’t jumping between platforms.
• Ensure traveller profiles are kept up to date to improve booking efficiency and traveller experience. Consider HR feeds for accuracy and currency of employee information.
• Lean on technology for speed and accuracy – and on human support for judgement and care.

6. Build smarter travel booking habits

• Encourage early booking for domestic routes and accommodation where capacity is tight.
• Track fare trends with your TMC to understand supply peaks and price swings.
• Standardise preferred airlines, hotels and ground transport for consistency and value.
• Set clear expectations for changes, cancellations and rebooking.

7. Strengthen supplier relationships

• Review your airline, hotel and transport agreements.
• Confirm you’re getting the right mix of value, flexibility and service.
• Consider consolidating volume with a smaller set of suppliers to unlock stronger benefits.
• Use your TMC’s relationships and consolidated buying power to guide negotiations.

8. Keep an eye on budget – without limiting travel

• Identify areas where spend can be managed more efficiently (e.g., advance purchase, smarter routing, clearer approval paths).
• Review unused ticket credits and ensure they’re monitored closely to maximise redemption.
• Focus on value over cost-cutting – productive travellers deliver better returns.

9. Train your EAs, PAs and Travel Arrangers

• Provide a quick refresher on new policies, tools and escalation points.
• Equip them with templates and tools for pre-trip planning, approvals and group bookings.
• Reinforce the support available through your TMC so they’re not carrying the load alone.

10. Set up quarterly travel reviews

• Check spend, savings and traveller feedback every quarter.
• Review what worked and what needs adjusting.
• Use these insights to refine your program progressively, not reactively.

A stronger travel program for 2026 starts with just a few simple steps.