It’s no surprise that AI has seeped into everything. At first, we thought it was a handy tool to organize our spreadsheets, but it’s quickly becoming a booming industry that’s laid a finger on every aspect of our lives, including the workplace. Whether or not that’s a good thing is widely debated among experts, but one thing’s for certain: artificial intelligence has changed the face of business travel, and it’s not going anywhere.
So what does that mean for management looking to streamline their incentive programs? What about employees in need of a seamless trip overseas? It means you may not like all the data centers, but AI could make your job a whole lot easier.
AI Knows Where You Want To Go
It’s not enough to get ads telling you about Mexico’s shimmering sands—artificial intelligence is all about helping you get there. Dozens of apps offer personalized destinations, help you price-point the best airfare, land you deals on hotels, and even send you automatic reminders about upcoming trips. The more they learn about you, the easier it’ll be for those apps to plan ahead in the future.
Employers don’t always have the time or the manpower to finish those menial tasks, either, which is exactly why they lean on AI. Those programs not only make it easier on their staff, but it also gives them insight into expenses, route popularity, and any market swings that could affect cost. Heck, once you touch down, an AI assistant could walk you through every step of your work itinerary if you wanted.
AI Travel Agents
For today’s employees, they’re left to entrust their itinerary to the robots. Even the average Joe is more curious about what ChatGPT has in store for their vacation than an actual person. Travel agents have already expressed concern for their job security, while Adobe’s latest research shows that AI traffic to travel sites went up 119% year-over-year in July 2026.
It shouldn’t surprise you, though. Visit any app, and they’ll practically bowl themselves over in a mad dash to show off their perks: price tracking, flight information, weather updates, instant itineraries, personalized recommendations, nearby attractions, you name it. Some even come with a voice mode in case, you know, you wanted a human touch.
Is There a Downside?
Not everyone’s on board with the boom of AI. Scott Gillespie, the founder and CEO of tClara, wrote a 2025 opinion piece warning of its dangers: artificial intelligence won’t improve business travel—it’ll kill it. He theorized that AI could eradicate the need for in-person meetings, which would squash white-collar jobs, and that CFOs might lose sight of their importance, especially with the promise of slashed budgets on the horizon.
But even if your job is somehow secure, it’s also not enough to hear that things will get easier. AI isn’t exactly known for its precision, and putting your trust in a machine to book your flight and organize your schedule has a lot of risks. Just ask Keesup Choe, the founder and CEO of PredictX. His recent op-ed specified these very dangers, wherein he pointed out that “if a retail AI assistant recommends the wrong shoes, the customer processes a return. If a corporate travel AI assistant makes an error, a business traveler can miss a multi-million-dollar merger meeting.”
These aren’t little concerns; they’re fundamental to corporate travel. It’s not just enough to guarantee the safety of your employees; can artificial intelligence be trusted to get you from point A to point B without costing you the whole reason behind your trip? As AI continues its growth spurt, it’s a question many employers ponder.
How to Use It
If you’re going to put your faith in an app, it’s important to be aware of its limitations. Think about what you’re actually trusting it to do, and then ask yourself whether an actual human should handle it. It’s one thing for an app to find the cheapest flight—it’s another for it to cost you down the line.
