Buying Travel in 2023

Corporate travel buyers are getting ready for some choppy waters in 2023. Pricing is already high, but airfares—at least in the United States—have dropped since their summer peak. That may be among the only breaks travel buyers get as they navigate budgets and supplier negotiations going into the new year. 

Supplier third-quarter earnings calls portend rising rates well into the first quarter; see managing editor Chris Davis’ roundup on page 4. Travel management company and industry trade groups and analyst firms reflect the same. You can get your forecast fix from contributing writer Mark Frary on page 8. 

But guidance for all travel buyers as we leave 2022 and venture into 2023 is not to look at the big pricing trends as the key to negotiations. Knowing specific markets and specific suppliers in those markets could still deliver negotiation success. Buyers will want to spend their time negotiating in locations and on routes where they have real buying power, good relationships and can fill a supplier need. Even in a booming leisure market, hotels, airlines and car rental companies need business travel and group revenues to meet their goals. 

And a number of industry analysts and corporate travel experts predict that leisure travel will decline after the holidays, giving way to a first quarter that has better negotiation opportunities than the final quarter of 2022.