New Year, New Standards: Is Your Corporate Travel Strategy Ready for 2026?

As we close out 2025, business leaders are busy finalizing budgets and setting Q1 goals. But there is one line item that often escapes scrutiny until a crisis hits or costs spiral: Corporate Travel.

If your team is still booking their own flights on consumer websites, or if your current travel management company (TMC) treats you like just another number, you are leaving money—and safety—on the table.

At Wilton Vida Business Travel, we believe 2026 should be the year you upgrade your standards. Here are three critical areas where your business travel strategy might need a reset:

1. The "Duty of Care" Gap When a winter storm grounds a flight in Chicago or a rail strike hits Europe, does your employee have to wait on hold for three hours with an airline? That’s not just inefficient; it’s a failure of Duty of Care.

• The Upgrade: We provide 24/7 active trip monitoring. We often rebook travelers before they even know their flight has been canceled. We don't just book tickets; we bring your people home safely.

2. The Hidden Cost of "Do It Yourself" It might seem cheaper to let employees book their own travel, but the hidden costs are massive. Between lost productivity, lack of leverage with vendors, and unused ticket credits, "DIY" is the most expensive travel policy you can have.

• The Upgrade: We maximize loyalty programs to secure complimentary upgrades and waivers, and we track every unused ticket to ensure it’s applied to future travel.

3. Frictionless Travel = Higher Productivity Your top talent shouldn't be wasting hours in security lines.

• The Upgrade: We assist with TSA PreCheck, Clear, and Global Entry enrollment for your road warriors. We create seamless itineraries with reliable black car transfers, so your team arrives at the meeting focused on the deal, not the logistics.

Our January Invitation To help you start the year strong, we are offering an exclusive incentive for new corporate accounts in January 2026: Switch to Wilton Vida Business Travel and pay ZERO booking fees for your first 6 months.

Let’s make 2026 the year your travel works as hard as your team does.