The State of Corporate Travel and Expense 2022 8 SKIFT + TRIPACTIONS NEW TRENDS IN SPENDING AND REMOTE WORK In addition to these optimistic signs, another big change is underway within many organizations: a wholesale shift in how they think about f inancial investment (and better oversight) for growing expenditures such as employee travel, worker benefits, and home office expenses. With many employees working remotely, the pandemic has “led to the reshaping of employee expenses,” found The Economist . From job functionality to fitness of body and mind, policy now has to flexibly consider new items — everything from home office supplies, software subscriptions, and gym memberships to more atypical expenses like aquariums and gardening supplies. The pandemic also created a new playbook for payments, as spend management platforms looked for opportunities to be more strategic about how business travel spending fits into the organization’s broader f inancial goals. This includes a desire for more holistic, and real-time, information about spending trends related to business travel, along with growing recognition of how employee expenditures fit into company spending plans. These trends are part of the larger shift into a new orbit of expense management strategies and tools. Organizations and business travelers alike are embracing the accelerating movement toward unifying all company-related expenses into one platform that focuses on transparent tracking, simplified reconciliation, and real-time reporting. Drivers of change include rewarding employees for making smart, cost-effective travel decisions with incentives that redefine spend management policy and influence purchasing behavior. THE RETURN OF IN-PERSON EVENTS AND MEETINGS Meanwhile, large-scale meetings are also back in gear. In early August, event technology powerhouse Cvent counted some 1,245 in-person attendees among the 13,500 total registrants for the first-ever hybrid version of its annual Connect user conference. The event was the latest in a run of large conferences with significant in-person attendance held since April in Las Vegas. The bellwether destination is also welcoming back sellout live concerts and sporting events at Allegiant Stadium and other venues. This positive momentum aligns with larger meetings industry trends. According to Cvent, for example, group bookings for October 2021 are just 22 percent below 2019 levels. Improving numbers are also lifting optimism in the airline industry. On Delta Air Lines’ Q2 earnings call in July 2021, CEO Ed Bastian expressed confidence about business travel recovery based on rising corporate sales volume. Bolstering Bastian’s outlook is the 40 percent gain in corporate bookings between March 2021, when sales were 80 percent lower than June 2019, and June 2021, when sales were 40 percent lower than a year earlier. On the same call, Delta Air Lines President Glen Hauenstein stated expectations that domestic corporate sales volume will reach 55 percent to 60 percent of 2019 levels. Further support comes f rom a recent Delta Air Lines survey of its corporate accounts, which revealed that more than one-third (36 percent) of the carrier’s large corporate customers expect to fully return to pre-pandemic volume no later than 2022. Another 21 percent of those accounts expect to fully restore their travel programs by 2023. “I think the surge is coming. Just like on the leisure side, we are getting ready for it on the business side,” Bastian said.