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Business travel could be big business. For leaders, crafting a robust, clear, and concise corporate travel policy may be only part of the challenge. Achieving compliance from team members could also be a sticking point.
In today’s rapidly changing world, following travel and expenditure (T&E) compliance recommendations may be far from easy. Effective communications and employee education may help reduce accidental errors — and save time — by making it easier to follow the rules. But the 2025 Deloitte Corporate Travel Study found that only 42% of the business travelers surveyed always use corporate tools when booking trips. (The study draws on two July 2025 surveys, one of more than 150 travel managers and one of more than 1,000 professionals who took a business trip in 2024 and 2025.) In the era of apps, short-term rentals, and personal rewards programs, there may be multiple roadblocks to achieving corporate travel compliance.
What Is Travel Policy Compliance?
Travel policy compliance means that team members follow the rules in a company’s T&E policy. At its simplest, a travel policy is a rulebook for business trips. It might cover things like:
- Emergency procedures
- Expectations for conduct
- Reimbursable expenses
- Travel booking guidelines
- Policies for reimbursements for allowable expenses
A clear travel policy could help boost compliance by making it easier for employees to read, absorb, follow, and reference the rules. This may save a business time and money, helping to potentially reduce both accidental error and deliberate fraud as well as time spent on claiming and approving reimbursements.
This clarity may also make employees’ lives easier by helping decrease paperwork, speed up reimbursements, and reduce or eliminate overspending on non-reimbursable expenses.
The Cost of Poor Travel Policy Compliance
Travel policy compliance means that employees adhere to the company’s business travel rulebook, helping to make sure that expenses incurred are allowable, within the appropriate limits, and booked, paid for, and reimbursed correctly. T&E compliance failures could prove risky, costly, and bad for morale.
On the micro level, poor T&E compliance may leave travel managers unable to trace their travelers, finance managers uninformed about spending, and team members aggrieved after their expense claims are rejected. On the macro level, corporate travel compliance failures may lead to overspending, errors, and audit issues, as well as potentially rendering a company vulnerable to fraud, in breach of its duty of care, and/or exposed to tax investigations.
What Is Travel Expense Reimbursement?
Travel expense reimbursement is how an organization pays back its travelers for legitimate business expenses they have incurred during work trips. While modern expense management solutions such as virtual cards could help streamline business trip spending, travel may still include elements that require reimbursement.
Travel expense reimbursement may be a five-step process:
The traveler creates a report — on paper, in a spreadsheet, or in dedicated software.
The traveler provides documentation for expenses above specified thresholds.
The traveler submits the report and documentation on a timeline set by the company.
Managers, often supported by automated systems, approve the expenditure.
Accounts teams process the business trip reimbursement.
A clear, concise T&E policy may be key to having the reimbursement process run smoothly.
What Expenses Are Reimbursable on Business Trips?
Writing a corporate travel policy may require a delicate balancing act: If it’s too short, team members may lack clarity, but if it’s too long, they may not read it at all. One key element of a corporate travel policy could be to include a list of reimbursable business expenses for national and international travel, such as:
- Transportation
- Lodging
- Meals
- Client entertainment
- Business supplies
- Shipping
- Communications costs
- Incidentals (tips, laundry, baggage fees, etc.)
To help enhance travel policy compliance, consider setting clear limits as to what spending levels are acceptable and what documentation is required. For additional clarity, the travel policy may also include a list of what expenses are not reimbursable.
Steps to Help Build a Compliant Travel Reimbursement Policy
Some components of a travel policy might include required booking channels, suppliers, and reimbursement procedures, as well as emergency information and a list of reimbursable business expenses.
To write a policy that meets common compliance requirements in corporate travel policies, consider the following sections:
- An introduction that explains the purpose of the policy and its audiences
- A list of reimbursable expenses, including spending limits
- A list of non-reimbursable expenses
- Guidelines to book travel, including the approval process
- Guidelines for documenting, reporting, and getting reimbursed for expenses
- Emergency contacts, safety information, and insurance details
You might also want to consider including these travel and expense policy best practices:
- Seek input from stakeholders across your organization, including travelers.
- Align your policy with your organization’s goals.
- Use real-world examples to communicate potential sticking points (such as essential vs. extravagant).
- Simplify the presentation by using bullet points, lists, and graphics.
- Create fun tools such as video and games to communicate key messages.
Best Practices for Managing Travel Expenses
The “4 Cs” of corporate travel management could vary according to who you ask, but may include “cost” and “compliance,” plus two of the following: “convenience," “care," “comfort," “culture," “communication," and “control." To help make sure your travel policy encourages compliance while controlling costs, you could help streamline reimbursements with clear reporting.
New technology could further help you save time, boost efficiency, and reduce error rates. Steps such as moving away from paper expense reports and integrating your travel and expense platforms may help stakeholders have real-time visibility over the information that they need.
Learn more about tech-forward options to help you optimize your business travel expense reporting.
Consider an American Express Business Platinum Card®
With an American Express Business Platinum Card, you can use Membership Rewards® Pay with Points1 for all or part of an eligible flight booked through American Express Travel with your selected qualifying airline and get 35% of those points back, up to 1,000,000 points back per calendar year.2
Terms and Conditions
1. To use Pay with Points, you must charge your eligible purchase through American Express Travel to a Membership Rewards® program-enrolled American Express® Card. Eligible purchases through American Express Travel exclude non-prepaid car rentals and non-prepaid hotels. Points will be debited from your Membership Rewards account, and credit for corresponding dollar amount will be issued to the American Express Card account used. If points redeemed do not cover entire amount, the balance of purchase price will remain on the American Express Card account. Minimum redemption 5,000 points.
See membershiprewards.com/terms for the Membership Rewards program terms and conditions.
If your Card is eligible for Pay Over Time and if a charge for a purchase is included in a Pay Over Time balance on your Linked Account, the statement credit associated with that charge may not be applied to that Pay Over Time balance. Instead the statement credit may be applied to your Pay in Full balance. If you believe this has occurred, please contact us by calling the number on the back of your Card. Corporate Card Members are not eligible for Pay Over Time.
Terms and Conditions for the Membership Rewards® program apply. Visit membershiprewards.com/terms for more information. Participating partners and available rewards are subject to change without notice.
The value of Membership Rewards points varies according to how you choose to use them. To learn more, go to www.membershiprewards.com/pointsinfo.
2. Basic Card Members on U.S. Business Platinum Card® Accounts can receive 3.5 points back for every 10 points redeemed using a Basic or Additional Card on the account towards all or part of an eligible booking, up to 1,000,000 points back per Membership Rewards® account per calendar year limit. Points received through the 35% Airline Bonus are subject to the limit as of the date on which the redemption occurred. An eligible booking is any prepaid flight booking with the Basic Card Member’s selected qualifying airline through American Express Travel® using Pay with Points. Flights booked as part of a travel package do not qualify for the 35% Airline Bonus benefit. Pay with Points redemptions must be made at the time of booking from the Membership Rewards® account connected to the Basic Card Member’s Business Platinum Card Account. A minimum redemption of 5,000 points is required. To be eligible, the Business Platinum Card Account must not be cancelled at the time of benefit fulfillment. If an eligible booking is cancelled, any points received through the 35% Airline Bonus benefit will be removed from the Membership Rewards® account. Points received through the 35% Airline Bonus benefit will typically be credited to the Membership Rewards® account within 48 hours after the charge for the eligible booking posts to the Card Account, but it may take up to 12 weeks.
Only the Basic Card Member or Authorized Account Manager(s) on the Card Account can select the qualifying airline. They must select a qualifying airline at https://global.americanexpress.com/card-benefits/enroll/airline-bonus/business-platinum. If the Basic Card Member wishes to select Spirit Airlines or Southwest Airlines as their qualifying airline for the 35% Airline Bonus benefit, Card Member must call Business Platinum Travel Service at 1-800-553-9497 to book. Qualifying airlines are subject to change. Basic Card Members who have not chosen a qualifying airline will be able to do so at any time. Basic Card Members who have already selected a qualifying airline will be able to change their choice one time each year in January at https://global.americanexpress.com/card-benefits/enroll/airline-fee-credit/business-platinum or by calling the number on the back of their Card. Basic Card Members who do not change their airline selection will remain with their current qualifying airline. The qualifying airline selected for the 35% Airline Bonus and the $200 Airline Fee Credit benefits must be the same. The qualifying airline must be selected prior to redemption to qualify for the 35% Airline Bonus benefit.
American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. is acting solely as a sales agent for travel suppliers and is not responsible for the actions or inactions of such suppliers. Certain suppliers pay us commission and other incentives for reaching sales targets or other goals and may provide incentives to our Travel Consultants. For more information visit www.americanexpress.com/travelterms.
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