Airfares and hotel rates for corporate travel each have stabilized this year, and companies are getting bigger discounts on negotiated airfares, according to a report published Wednesday by Emburse Travel Analytics.
The report, based on corporate booking data from Emburse on a 12-month average basis through April 2025, shows an average market airfare of $724, $1 lower from the same period a year prior. The average negotiated airfare, however, was $602, down 4.6 percent year over year. That widened the gap between negotiated and market airfares to 16.9 percent, up 3.9 percentage points year over year.
For domestic travel, the average negotiated economy fare for the period was $406, compared with an average market fare of $459, and negotiated rates made up 93 percent of domestic bookings. On international flights, the average negotiated economy fare was $646, compared with an average market fare of $710, and 59 percent of bookings used negotiated pricing, according to Emburse.
For hotels, the average booked daily rate for corporate travelers during the 12-month period was up 1.4 percent year over year to $209, a nearly 21 percent discount off the average market rate of $264, the report indicated. Cities with the largest year-over-year increases in average booked rates include Basel, Switzerland (up 13 percent); Copenhagen (up 12 percent), Stockholm (up 7 percent); Boston (up 6 percent); and London (up 5 percent). The biggest declines included Barcelona (down 9 percent); New Orleans and Hong Kong (each down 8 percent); and Fort Worth, Texas, and Scottsdale, Ariz. (each down 7 percent).
Cities with the largest growth year over year in room nights for the period include Bengaluru, India (up 39 percent); Boston (up 23 percent); New York (up 21 percent); and San Francisco (up 20 percent).