How and when are business travellers using AI for travel? Our survey explores the current state of AI adoption rates among different groups.
With Gen Z using AI an average of 12 times per week, compared to seven for Gen X and four for Boomers, it’s no wonder that as their numbers grow in the workplace, so does the demand for AI travel tools. But what does this increased engagement mean for businesses?
The applications of AI for travel in business are plentiful, whether booking flights at the best price, streamlining business travel expenses or communicating with clients using AI real-time translation. As a result, small and medium enterprise AI adoption is increasing at speed. A Google Cloud report states that 82% of executives surveyed plan to integrate this technology into existing systems within the next three years, both to improve employee satisfaction and increase workflow automation.
Yet while AI has become a fixture in many aspects of business travel, its adoption and usage differ notably across traveller demographics. To find out more about these differences, we surveyed US and UK business travellers from various age groups and industries.
Here are the key findings of our latest survey:
We also compared these current AI adoption rates to an earlier study we carried out in 2024 to see how interest has changed in the past year.
In this article, we’ll further explore the differences in AI adoption and usage from our survey, along with their implications. Armed with these findings, you’ll be better able to choose the AI tools and features that will most benefit your business.
With efficiency as a guiding purpose, the majority of businesses are integrating AI in the workplace. A survey of 300 US-based travel managers found that 90% of respondents were using this technology in some capacity, whether for financial management or duty of care.
But how are business travellers engaging with this technology? To learn more, we asked business travellers what they were using these tools for.
The results showed widespread utilisation of AI tools including virtual trip planners, AI booking assistants and translation apps, with equal distribution across numerous categories. Here are the takeaways:
Itinerary planning and optimisation are also key areas of interest in both the UK and US. AI agents create a more personalised itinerary for business travellers, adjusting to historic preferences and leveraging real-time data for a more seamless, optimised experience that stays within budget.
From our earlier exploration of trust and interest in AI features, we can see that corporate travellers expressed the strongest (47%) interest in automated expense tracking and reporting apps.
For employees, these tools take away the administrative burden of travel expenses with features like digital receipt capture and automated approvals. And with no need for lengthy paper trails, travelling employees receive faster reimbursements.
A high percentage (45%) were also interested in using AI-driven solutions for meeting and event coordination. AI chatbots and virtual assistants not only help at the planning stages, but they also enhance the experience by tailoring content and activities to attendee preferences, all while providing real-time support to those travelling in for meetings.
Further, AI is helping business travellers measure and maintain their health in transit, with virtual coaches that create custom workout plans and jet lag apps connected to smart watches. These adjust automatically to changes in time zones with tailored tips. Navigation tools help travellers find their way to meetings with real-time mapping, while translation tools remove language barriers for smoother communication.
The benefit of AI travel itinerary tools also extends to travel managers. Freed from the small details, they can take a big-picture look at policy parameters to ensure AI recommendations align with corporate objectives.
When used as part of a wider strategy, AI can streamline the full travel management process.
AI navigation tools help enhance traveller safety with real-time tracking, so you always know where your team is. And when there’s a change of plans, AI agents manage cancellations or delays with automatic rebooking, to minimise disruption and maximise downtime.
Using AI-driven insights, automated tools give finance teams full data visibility for proactive budget management. They speed up the approvals process by automating receipts, invoices, and fraud detection, eliminating bottlenecks for faster reporting and better compliance.
AI travel tools optimise spending by identifying dynamic pricing trends while adjusting in real time to fluctuations, for better ROI on business travel. In fact, it’s estimated that companies using these tools reduce booking costs by 10 to 15%.
AI tools consistently monitor on-the-ground situations to swiftly identify threats in real time. This enables a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to risk management.
By constantly analysing booking trends, spending patterns, and traveller movements, AI optimisation allows managers to refine travel policies. Using real-time data means policies are based on reality, not theory.
Our research shows the generational divide in AI adoption rates. While 52% of travellers under 35 reported using AI tools, only 25% of travellers over 34 reported their usage.
This divide is backed up by further research. An AP-NORC survey found that while 60% of all adults reported using AI tools to search for information, this percentage jumped to 74% in the 18-29 age group.
Younger Millennials and Gen Z workers have grown up with AI tools as standard, and this familiarity makes younger workers more open to new uses of technology for a smoother travel experience.
By contrast, business travellers over the age of 35, particularly those in the Gen X and Baby Boomer generations, may have spent decades working and travelling without the use of AI. Indeed, our study shows AI usage dropping further with age – while 27% of UK travellers between the ages of 35-55 use these tools, this figure drops to just 14% in the 56+ category. With less natural familiarity, older workers may see AI tools as unproven and have doubts about the technology’s efficacy.
These generational trends in AI adoption are crucial for HR teams to understand, as they will directly influence your support and training strategies. It’s worth surveying your own workplace to determine employee familiarity with AI tools, across the generations. Awareness of generational starting points ensures a seamless AI travel experience for all employees.
There’s not only a generational difference in AI adoption rates. Our research also found slight variations between US and UK business travellers.
When comparing interest in AI features to our previous survey in 2024, we found that enthusiasm within the US has slightly declined. While it warrants further investigation, this may be due to oversaturation in the US media along with tech fatigue.
Overall, however, AI interest remains strong and consistent across both countries. When asked to rate their interest in various AI features:
For small business owners, understanding these regional preferences is key to choosing a travel platform that resonates with global employees while supporting specific operational needs.
The McKinsey Global Institute predicts that by 2030, at least 70% of companies will be using at least one form of AI technology. Its experts also speculate that this impact won’t be linear but rather follow an S-curve of adoption and absorption.
While initial adoption has been driven by tech-savvy younger generations, growth will rapidly accelerate in the next few years. And as AI navigation tools become more intuitive and mainstream, older generations of business travellers will become more likely to embrace them accordingly.
AI is still an emerging technology, but as it matures, we can expect deeper integration across travel bookings along with more powerful AI-powered assistance during trips.
For example, in July 2025, OpenAI’s new Operator tool went live. In one demonstration, Operator logged into travel booking sites to select flights and hotels according to user preferences and budget constraints with minimal intervention. With the incoming wave of autonomous AI agents like these, business travellers will have a full-time virtual assistant at their fingertips.
As AI adoption rates grow, this will also usher in the new era of hyper-personalisation. With advanced abilities to drill down into the most specific data analytics by individual, AI travel tools will tailor touchpoints at a very personal level.
Imagine that at every stage of the business travel journey, you’re presented with options that meet your wants and needs. Real-time travel status updates, automatic flight re-bookings, and proactive compensation take the stress out of travel disruption for a smoother end-to-end experience.
For small business owners, fully integrated platforms simplify the entire travel ecosystem from itinerary planning to post-trip expense reporting. With free travel management solutions like Tripeden.com for Business, you’ll be able to book accommodation, business flights and corporate rental cars from a single platform.
Already used by business travellers to plan itineraries, aid with translation and expedite expense tracking, AI is fast becoming a behind-the-scenes partner for better travel experiences.
Driven by media coverage and innovative product rollouts, tech enthusiasm may fluctuate over time. Yet our survey makes clear that overall, AI is increasingly viewed as a practical, time-saving tool by bookers and finance teams alike.
If you’re looking for more practical ways to support travelling employees, platforms like Tripeden.com for Business provide a fully integrated solution. Simplifying everything from itinerary planning to expenses management, travel management tools help organisations stay ahead of the curve as traveller expectations evolve.
Between February 6 and February 17, 2025, Tripeden.com for Business surveyed 1029 business travellers from the UK (513) and US (516). All had travelled in the past year and expected to travel for business in the year to come.
Survey participants were all over 18 and working full-time, with a representative mix of ages and genders. The business traveller demographics represent a natural distribution of department size and industry.
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