Travel buyers who have incorporated AI into their business travel processes are seeing dividends in terms of compliance and data but not necessarily in cost and time savings, according to a survey of 1,000 U.S. business travelers and travel decision makers published by Engine on Tuesday.
The survey, conducted from Sept. 11 through Oct. 23, showed that 79 percent of larger organizations—defined as those with more than 250 employees—said they have built AI into business travel. Smaller companies had slightly lower adoption, with 69 percent saying they had done so.
Among companies in the survey that have measured the impact of AI in their program, 77 percent said they are getting better visibility over travel, and 71 percent said they have seen an improvement in compliance. Within that same group, 60 percent said their travel costs have gone up since they started using AI, and the same percentage said they are spending more time on planning and booking travel and filing expenses.
The report indicated that trust was the reason behind those numbers.
"Respondents point to accuracy concern as a drawback," according to the report. "AI saves them time on average, but having to double-check its work can eat into those savings."
Respondents in the survey also showed a general level of comfort in letting AI handle travel tasks, depending on their complexity. Eighty-six percent of respondents, for example, said they were comfortable letting AI handle routine bookings, and 76 percent said they would be comfortable letting AI determine whether a trip was worth taking.
When urgent problems arise mid-trip, however, 58 percent of respondents said they'd rather have a human handling the solution. Only 16 percent of respondents said they would let AI act in a time of disruption without letting them check on the solution first.
"Business travelers are happy to let AI make some big calls—just not all of them," according to Engine.