A new Australian Business Travel Digest from Travel Analytics and FACTS has found businesses spent $5.7 million on flexible-fare premiums in FY26 to protect against an estimated $1 million in actual change costs, highlighting a significant gap between fare-flexibility spend and realised risk.
Digest draws on 227 corporate travel programs
The digest uses data from 227 corporate travel programs to benchmark where businesses may be spending unnecessarily. FY26 data shows domestic air costs finished 28 per cent above where they began the year, though well below their December-quarter peak, suggesting budgets set during that period may now overstate current market pricing.
Simon Crunden, Travel Analytics founder, said the findings challenge established assumptions about corporate travel policy. “Flexible fares appear to be significantly over-purchased, while the penalty for booking late has narrowed. The opportunity is to manage travel more precisely rather than relying on blanket policies,” Crunden said.
Report identifies hotel capture and traveller concentration gaps
Other findings include only half of eligible overnight domestic trips having accommodation booked through the TMC, and fewer than 9 per cent of travellers generating 47 per cent of trips and 40 per cent of air spend and carbon emissions. The digest also found premium cabin use varies significantly by destination, supporting more targeted regional travel policies rather than uniform rules.
Derek Sadubin, FACTS chief executive, said the digest gives smaller and mid-sized travel programs access to benchmarking data typically associated with larger corporate accounts. For TMCs and corporate travel buyers, the findings offer a concrete basis to review flexible fare purchasing, hotel booking capture rates and traveller segmentation policy ahead of FY27 budget planning. The full digest is available to download from Travel Analytics and FACTS, with FACTS’ broader event running 25 to 26 November 2026 at ICC Sydney.
