Corporate Travel Is Back — and Bringing More Administrative Work With It
Business travel volumes rebounded strongly in 2024 and 2025, and corporate travel management companies are feeling the pressure. The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) reported in its 2025 BTI Outlook that global business travel spend is projected to reach $1.6 trillion in 2025, approaching pre-pandemic peak levels. For TMCs that manage the booking and compliance infrastructure for corporate clients, this recovery is positive for revenue — but it also means more bookings, more policy checks, more traveler inquiries, and more administrative work.
The challenge is that TMCs have not rebuilt their operations teams at the same rate that travel volumes have grown. According to GBTA, 58% of corporate travel managers surveyed in 2025 indicated that their TMC's response times had worsened over the past two years, and 44% cited booking error rates as a growing concern. These are symptoms of an administrative capacity problem that additional technology alone cannot solve.
Virtual assistants are helping TMCs address that capacity gap — providing skilled remote support for booking coordination, policy compliance administration, and traveler communications without the overhead of expanding full-time staff.
Core VA Functions in Corporate Travel Management
Booking coordination is the highest-volume function VAs handle for TMCs. This includes processing booking requests from corporate travelers or travel arrangers, entering reservations into GDS systems (Sabre, Amadeus, Travelport), verifying that bookings comply with client travel policies (preferred carriers, hotel programs, advance purchase requirements), and confirming details with travelers and travel arrangers.
For TMCs managing large corporate accounts with multiple cost centers and traveler profiles, maintaining booking accuracy across high daily volumes is labor-intensive. VAs who are trained in GDS workflows and familiar with corporate travel policy structures can process standard bookings efficiently, freeing senior travel consultants for complex itineraries and VIP accounts.
Policy compliance checking is a function that grows in importance as corporate clients tighten their travel programs in response to cost pressures. VAs review booked itineraries against client travel policies, flag out-of-policy selections, and route exceptions to the appropriate approver. This compliance layer protects the TMC's client relationships and reduces the policy disputes that can damage contract renewals.
Traveler support administration covers the documentation and communications tasks that surround each trip: sending itinerary confirmations, providing visa and entry requirement information, distributing hotel and transfer vouchers, and managing pre-trip document requests. Post-travel, VAs handle expense report initiation support, receipt collection coordination, and reconciliation queries.
Duty of Care Administration: A Growing Responsibility
Duty of care — the corporate obligation to track, communicate with, and assist travelers during disruptions or emergencies — has become a central concern for corporate travel programs. According to GBTA, 79% of corporate travel managers rate duty of care compliance as a high or critical priority in 2025, up from 62% in 2022.
For TMCs, this translates into an administrative responsibility to maintain accurate traveler location data, communicate proactively during disruptions, and coordinate rebooking and assistance. VAs help manage the communications layer of duty of care: sending automated alerts, tracking traveler responses during disruptions, and maintaining the traveler locator data that corporate security teams rely on.
The Cost Case for VA Support in Corporate Travel
TMCs operate in a competitive environment with pressure on fees and margins. Adding full-time GDS-certified travel consultants is expensive — salary, benefits, training, and technology licensing for a mid-level GDS consultant can total $65,000 to $85,000 annually. A VA providing booking support and administrative coordination typically costs $2,000 to $4,500 per month, enabling TMCs to expand their effective processing capacity at a fraction of the full-time cost.
The GBTA BTI Outlook notes that TMCs investing in operational efficiency improvements — including technology and outsourced support — are achieving higher client retention rates and faster response times than those maintaining traditional staffing models.
For corporate travel management companies looking to scale administrative capacity while controlling costs, Stealth Agents provides virtual assistants experienced in GDS operations, corporate travel policy administration, and traveler support workflows.
Sources
- Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), BTI Outlook, 2025
- GBTA, Corporate Travel Management Survey, 2025
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Travel Occupations Employment Data, 2024