Profiling Europe's most influential corporate travel programmes

BTN Europe’s Power List profiles the programmes of some of the continent’s biggest spenders on corporate travel. But spend alone doesn’t secure a place on the Power List, for sustainability activities, an appetite for innovation and companies' advocacy and engagement efforts are all considered too. The Power List is an authoritative rundown of Europe’s most influential travel programmes, showcasing best practice and driving positive change.

What constitutes the ideal corporate travel programme? While numerous stakeholders might articulate their visions of an ideal scenario, few buyers will claim to have achieved some kind of travel management utopia. The pace of industry change ensures that, despite progress toward strategic objectives, addressing unexpected challenges remains a constant reality.

While larger corporates invariably have more resources to lean on in their pursuit of frictionless and innovative travel programmes – both in terms of travel team headcount and also their access to IT, security or sustainability teams – it's important to note that big doesn't necessarily mean best. A brilliantly curated mid-size travel programme, for example, may never be seen by a wider audience due to the company’s lesser profile.

What 'big' does mean, however, is greater leverage to secure favourable rates with suppliers, but also it brings visibility and influence. Take Microsoft, for example, which when it first started talking about its sustainability initiatives and an internal carbon tax on travel was years ahead of its peers. Or, more recently, EY, which implemented blockchain-based booking technology and a sustainable travel approval tool, and Google, which launched a specialist service for its travellers with accessibility requirements. The biggest spenders on travel are often also the trend-setters, innovators and thought-provokers.

But as new ways of working and stringent sustainability goals become embedded in corporate culture, it remains to be seen in which direction travel spend will move. Many corporates have publicly stated that they expect neither travel volumes nor spend to surpass historic peaks even though meeting face-to-face remains a fundamental facet of their operations.

In the past, research from the likes of Concur, JP Morgan and Mastercard found spend on business travel ranges from less than one per cent of a company's revenue, right up to double digits, depending on their industry sector. TCG Consulting says a 'generally accepted' average of 1.68 per cent is closer to 1.95 per cent when including hidden costs not usually billed to T&E accounts, but a JP Morgan study put T&E spend as high as 12 per cent of annual sales for some companies. What is clearer, however, is how that ratio varies from sector to sector. TCG asserts that manufacturing companies have lower T&E costs (less than one per cent of top line revenues) compared to those in the professional services industry, for whom travel spend is higher and more like four per cent of revenue.

For the five corporates featured in the Power List's first swathe of profiles, T&E spend as a percentage of revenue was indeed notably higher for the two professional services companies – with EY at 2.35 per cent and Accenture at 1.46 per cent – compared to the others in this report (Pfizer at 0.77 per cent, Google at 0.27 per cent, and Shell at 0.12 per cent).

While those figures might act as benchmarks for some, there is clearly no established formula for building the 'perfect' programme. That is even more evident when examining the sustainability policies and targets of the companies featured within the Power List. Some of the companies featured here, primarily those where business travel emissions account for a high proportion of a company's overall carbon emissions, have aggressive near-term targets specifically pertaining to corporate travel. Others, where travel emissions are a smaller slice of overall emissions, have broader targets.

While the 'perfect' corporate travel programme will look different for everyone, the Power List showcases the processes, policies and concepts of some of the biggest and most innovative corporates in Europe.

POWER LIST METHODOLOGY

The companies featured in BTN Europe’s Power List were selected for inclusion based on several elements: their European T&E spend – all of which exceed €75 million – as well as their reputation for innovation, their global influence, sustainability initiatives and industry advocacy. Profiles were compiled using information from a wide range of sources including but not limited to publicly available annual reports and sustainability plans, past Business Travel News reporting, details provided by industry personnel, and statements and information communicated at industry events. All financial values were supplied in or converted to euros in March 2024.