The Invisible, $17 Billion Cost Businesses are Facing
If it feels like your travel for work gets disrupted, changed, or cancelled more than it used to… you’re not imagining it.
According to our third annual global survey, travel disruptions really are becoming more and more common. And unfortunately, this has a cost to businesses. As disruptions rise, so do costs — both direct, monetary costs to your business and invisible costs to your team’s productivity and time spent on valuable, efficient work. In this year’s survey, we surveyed more than 7,000 business travelers from a range of ages and industries in the UK, US, and Europe to find out the professional, financial, and emotional cost of these disruptions — and how to alleviate them.
Key takeaways from TravelPerk’s 2025 Business Travel Disruption survey
U.S. companies spend an estimated $17 billion+ each year covering the fallout from flight cancellations — about 4% of the $395 billion annual business travel spend (GBTA Business Travel Index, 2025).
89% of business travelers were affected by travel disruptions in 2025 — the highest number from the past three years.
2025 saw the highest percentage of travelers affected by weather-related disruptions from the past three years, up 39% globally and up 50% in the US.
25% of business travelers believe they missed out on new business due to disruptions they experienced.
66% of travelers report higher stress and more than half say disruptions negatively impact work-life balance, leading to lower employee satisfaction and burnout risk.
1 - The current reality of travel disruption
Travel disruptions are becoming nearly impossible to avoid. Consider this: in 2023, 77% of business travelers said they experienced disruptions while traveling for work. Fast-forward to 2025, and that number has grown to 89%.
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More than half (56%) of business travelers have experienced delays of more than an hour in the past 12 months, 36% suffered cancellations, and 26% missed connections.
Weather-related events caused setbacks to 39% of workers who travel for work, up from 21% from the prior year. In the US, this number is even higher, with 50% of travelers experiencing weather-related disruptions (up from just 30% in 2024). As weather and climates become more unstable and extreme, we expect this to continue to be a growing concern for travelers over the next few years.
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Additionally, visa issues are slowly rising, especially in the UK. The percentage of travelers who experienced travel disruptions due to visa issues in the UK has doubled since 2023 (up to 14% from 7% in 2023).
Zooming in on cancellations, 36% of global travelers being disrupted by cancelled trips in 2025, compared to just 24% in 2023. In the US, the percentage of business travelers impacted by cancellations increased significantly in the past two years, up to 42% in 2025 compared to 25% in 2023. Flights still account for the majority of cancellations (81%), except in Germany, where train cancellations are slightly more common than flight cancellations (74% vs. 70%, respectively).
So, disruptions are increasing, and companies should be increasingly expecting disruptions as the norm, rather than the exception. More importantly, the costs of disruption are steep — yes, direct monetary costs, but also missed meetings, lost business opportunities, and a toll on employee wellbeing.
2 - The Financial Cost of Travel Disruption
For the first time, this year’s research quantifies direct financial costs for companies, and the results are staggering: US companies spend a whopping more than $17 billion a year covering additional travel expenses due to cancellations or other disruptions. In the UK, companies are spending an additional £1.6 billion annually, working out to about 4% of each country’s annual business travel budgets.
Forty percent of travelers said they incurred additional expenses due to disruptions in the past 12 months. Globally, accommodation and overtime are the highest expense categories related to disruptions, with accommodations in the UK and US significantly more expensive than in the EU.
Additionally, in the past 12 months, 72% of business travelers affected by disruptions had to rebook their trip on the go, and they did so at an average +27% higher cost to their companies.
These increasing costs to companies for extra hotels, rebooking fees, and overtime add up quickly, requiring companies to prepare for and budget for these disruptions.
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Roy Hefer, CFO at TravelPerk said, “Travel is not just a line item in the P&L, it is an investment in the company's future success. As such, it warrants the same thoughtful approach that we would apply to other investment decisions. A delay or cancellation doesn’t have to derail an entire trip or drive up costs. Companies that include flexible fares, cancellation cover, and buffer time in their travel policies are far better positioned to boost productivity and ensure return on investment.”
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3 - The hidden costs: productivity, opportunity & wellbeing
The financial impact of travel disruption is growing. But unfortunately, the monetary costs aren’t the only cost of disruption. Hidden costs in productivity, business opportunities, and employee wellbeing are also straining teams and business travelers.
Business travelers lose up to 6 hours, on average, for each disruption
Loss of productivity is a major — often “hidden” — cost of travel disruption. On average in 2025, business travelers lost 4 hours and 45 minutes per disrupted trip, and 39% of travelers said they had to work extended hours to catch up on work after the disruption. Travelers in the US and Austria were impacted the most, losing an average of 6 hours and 5 hours per trip, respectively.
Travel disruptions lead to lost opportunities for almost half of C-suite travelers
These disruptions don’t only impact personal productivity, though — they’re also impacting business opportunities as companies lose out on business. Forty-four percent of travelers say disruptions caused them to be late or miss important meetings, and 25% of business travelers believe they missed out on new business due to disruptions. For C-suite travelers, the impact is even bigger, with 32% saying they lost new business due to disruptions and 48% saying they were late to or missed important meetings due to disruptions.
These impacts are increasing in the US and the UK, too. In the US, 46% of travelers in 2025 missed meetings (up from 38% in 2024) and in the UK, half of travelers missed in-person meetings (up from 40% in 2024).
Work travel disruptions cause increased stress for 66% of travelers
Finally, disrupted work travel negatively impacts employee wellbeing, which can lead to lowered employee retention, morale, and productivity — even when employees aren’t traveling.
In 2025, the main consequences to employees’ wellbeing from travel disruptions included higher stress (66%), worse work-life balance (56%), and disruption to personal plans (42%).
Disruption to personal plans were widespread, but concerns varied based on traveler demographics. Younger adults (aged 25-34) were more likely to say work travel disruptions interrupted personal plans or holidays (46%) compared to older employees aged 45+ (29%).
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4 - How travelers are adapting
91% of global professionals say they’ve changed how they travel in response to increased travel disruptions. Among those changes, travelers say they’re checking for travel updates more frequently (42%), allowing more time to reach their destinations (37%), and booking options with more flexible cancellation policies (36%).
And when disruption does occur, travelers have clear preferences for rebooking and adjusting travel plans. Despite all the advances in automated technology, the strongest preference is still for real-time, human contact (i.e., over the phone), with 33% of travelers saying this is their top choice for rebooking. A growing segment (30%) prefers online, self-serve options (up from 24% last year).
By contrast, demand for chat options of any kind are declining, with only 4% preferring chat or SMS with human agents (down from 11% in 2023) and only 7% of travelers globally preferring AI chatbots
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These results highlight an important takeaway: Even as technology improves, travelers value and prefer real-time, human support when disrupted. Companies need to value digital tools — preferably, self-serve ones — alongside real, human assistance.
And not all digital tools are created equal. If travelers are managing changes digitally, they want to be able to do so themselves, not have to communicate through an agent or a bot.
That’s why at TravelPerk, our users have access to 24/7 customer care with real humans. Plus, they’re given the option to instantly and automatically handle modifications to their trips via our Manage Trip form. With just a few clicks, users can add a suitcase, change their flight, or handle changes without having to contact our Customer Care team. We’ve also launched Juno, our AI-powered travel assistant to empower users to make these changes.
5 - How smart companies are responding
Smart companies are also taking big strides to improve the employee travel experience and mitigate disruption costs and impact, monetary or otherwise. Among the most common changes, companies are requiring employees to book fully flexible tickets (48%), making travel insurance mandatory (42%), mandating use of approved travel booking platforms (41%), and overall introducing new policies (37%).
These changes highlight the best practices for smart responses to increasing travel disruptions: adapting policies to increase flexibility, tech, and support.
1. Policy
Many companies are tightening their travel policies in response to disruption.
In general, policies are shifting from “guidelines” to protective frameworks that help companies control costs and avoid wasting budget, while also providing greater support to travelers.
Encouraging approved booking platforms (something 41% of companies are doing) can also support policy compliance, such as requiring cancellation coverage or flexible bookings.
FieldIn, for example, implemented TravelPerk and set up built-in policies. As a result, employees don’t have to consult a travel admin or a random PDF handbook to book compliant trips — compliant trips are automatically highlighted in the booking platform. As a result, they’ve seen nearly 100% policy compliance since switching.
2. Flexibility
Flexibility is becoming a cornerstone, with nearly half (48%) of companies now requiring fully flexible tickets. Some companies are also implementing flexible policies like allowing longer stays to build in more buffer for delays (37%) or mandatory cancellation coverage (33%).
All of these flexibility policies help avoid last-minute stress, missed meetings (and business opportunities), and ultimately, build resilience into every trip by giving travelers more options to adapt if something goes awry.
And although some teams balk at the cost of flexible bookings, booking flexible tickets can actually lead to significant savings in the bigger picture.
Take EU Business School for example. They contracted TravelPerk’s FlexiPerk flexible booking options for the whole company, allowing traveling team members to book trips and cancel at the last-minute, no questions asked, with at least 80% of trip costs refunded.
As a result, they saved $78,000 from cancelled trips in one year.
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The freedom to cancel anytime, anywhere. Get 80% back with FlexiPerk.
3. Tech
The right technology solutions can help companies balance traveler autonomy with cost and policy control. Booking platforms like TravelPerk use built-in policy rules that ensure compliance while also allowing employees to book their own travel.
When Nord Security implemented TravelPerk, it gave them increased traveler autonomy and flexibility while also increasing compliance: a win-win.
Business travel management tech has a host of other benefits too:
Real-time notifications to your travelers and admin (supporting the 42% of travelers who are checking for travel updates more frequently).
Mobile apps that help employees react fast during disruptions (and allow quick access to self-serve support options).
24/7 human support to alleviate your admin team’s workload while still giving travelers constant access to their preferred support methods.
Automation options (e.g. rebooking workflows, automated expense reporting, trip approvals) to reduce admin load when things don’t go to plan.
For example, global fashion firm Desigual implemented pre-set travel policies that allow employees to book even complex trips on their own. With these automated workflows and approvals in place, 89% of trips are now automatically approved — and within the allocated budget — increasing policy compliance and budget control while decreasing admin and finance team workloads.
4. Support
Even with the best policies in place, disruption still happens — and it’s stressful for everyone involved.
Our research shows that travelers still prefer real-time, human contact when disrupted, even as self-service tools grow in popularity. The best companies provide 24/7 support that combines human assistance with digital tools so travelers can choose the channel that suits them best based on the level of disruption.
This is especially important for major disruptions, such as the Heathrow shutdown in March 2025. A major power outage disrupted hundreds of flights overnight and TravelPerk’s disruption team alerted, supported, and helped rebook, reroute, or refund over 1,000 passengers — giving business travelers hands-on support even in chaotic circumstances.
The reassurance and speed of 24/7 support can significantly reduce how stressful travel disruptions are for employees — and even reduce the impact of disruptions by getting them rebooked or refunded faster.
“Technology without great customer care is not enough. We work on building efficient automation backed by real people, so travelers always feel supported,” said Kamil Jagodzinski, VP of Customer Care at TravelPerk. “Last year, we launched our dedicated Customer Care Disruptions team, combining expertise from many areas including weather forecasting, operations, and disruption management. Since then, they’ve handled over 340 incidents worldwide, keeping travelers moving even during major events like strikes, airport power outages and destructive weather events. From contacting affected travelers proactively with alternative travel options to adding alerts to the platform, agents have guided thousands of stranded professionals. That human-first approach is what keeps our travelers reassured and on the move.”
Implement modern travel adaptations for your team
The smartest companies don’t just pick one lever: they combine all four.
Policies create clarity, reducing monetary cost of travel (and travel disruptions) while also reducing admin workloads.
Flexibility reduces risk, both of increasing disruption costs and lost business or productivity.
Tech provides efficiency, giving travelers and companies the support they need to adapt to disruptions.
Support ensures traveler wellbeing, reducing the impact of disruptions on employee stress and personal lives.
Together, these adaptations make disruptions more manageable and less costly — for your travelers and your bottom line.
Travel management platforms, like TravelPerk, allow you to implement all four of these levers with a single solution. Built-in policies and approvals, FlexiPerk flexible bookings, automation and integrations, and 24/7 customer support with built-in traveler tracker systems give you everything you need to run a travel program that doesn’t just absorb disruptions — it mitigates them.
Methodology
TravelPerk commissioned market research agency OnePoll to survey 7,000 business travelers in the United Kingdom (2,000), United Estates (2,000), Germany (1,000), Spain (1,000), and Austria (1,000). The surveys were conducted online from 6 to 18 August 2025.
Respondents were employed adults who travel for work at least twice a year and work for companies with more than 50 and less than 20,000 employees.
The cost of disruption analysis combines the survey data with business travel spending benchmarks from the 2025 GBTA Business Travel Index. By calculating the proportion of employees who travel for work and have been affected by flight cancellations, and the average additional costs incurred (including non covered flight rebooking, accommodation, ground transport and employee overtime), the analysis provides an estimate of the annual financial impact of disruption. Regional cost calculations were adjusted using the market exchange rates published on August 1, 2025
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