Despite a rebound in global corporate travel, much of the industry remains stuck in an old pattern — unmanaged, but cheaper employee travel.

A recent Euromonitor International report estimates that nearly 65% of global business travel spending, which is projected to reach $2.9 trillion by 2029, is still unmanaged.

Small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), defined as companies with 1–200 employees, represent 26.1% of the total business travel market and are projected to grow the fastest, at a CAGR of 7.1% through 2029, according to the report, which was commissioned by Navan.

Despite frequent travel needs, SMBs remain the least likely to use a travel management company. For travel management companies (TMCs), this represents both a problem and a massive opportunity.

Unmanaged Business Travel’s Pitfalls and Advantages

Eva Fouquet, SVP of Strategic Partnerships at Kayak for Business, sums up the paradox neatly: “Unmanaged travel sticks around because it feels easy, until it’s not.”

In practice, unmanaged travel often means employees booking trips themselves on consumer platforms like Kayak, Expedia, or even directly through airline websites.

Receipts get lost, reimbursements are delayed, and no one’s sure who’s where at any given moment.

“You don’t know where your travelers are. If they have to change their plans, it’s not that easy,” Fouquet said.

Still, the perceived flexibility and familiarity keep many SMBs from switching to managed platforms.

Amy Butte, CFO at Navan, argues that the problem stems from the fact that traditional travel management solutions simply weren’t built with SMBs in mind.

“Legacy platforms often neglect the end user, making the booking process clunky and frustrating,” she said. “Employees want tools that are as easy to use as consumer apps, and if they don’t get that, they tend to book outside the system.”

For many SMBs, it’s not just about ease; it’s also about economics. Butte points out that a large portion of unmanaged travel is driven by cost perceptions.

“They believe managed solutions aren’t financially accessible or the cost can’t be justified for their volume,” she said.

What SMBs Actually Want

When asked what small businesses care about most in a travel solution, Fouquet was clear: It’s not just about cost, control, flexibility, or simplicity; it’s all four, and they’re deeply interconnected.

Ray Slater Berry, founder and CEO of the content agency DSLX, is exactly the kind of SMB leader TMCs are trying to convert. So far, they haven’t succeeded.

“Everyone books their own travel and invoices us after,” he said. The company once experimented with TravelPerk years before its rebrand, but found it clunky and often more expensive than booking directly.

“The user experience just wasn’t good enough, and we felt we could find cheaper deals on our own,” Berry said.

Today, DSLX’s decentralized, do-it-yourself approach works for its size and needs, but Berry admits that if the company scaled dramatically, it might consider switching to a more centralized platform.

And that’s the catch: most SMBs won’t prioritize change unless something breaks.

Fouquet sees this pattern repeatedly. “Travel isn’t the first priority for SMBs. Unless something feels broken, they keep the status quo.”

For her team, the focus has been on education, showing how platforms like Kayak for Business can offer better travel adoption rates, less manual reconciliation, and real-time reporting, without the pain of a traditional onboarding process.

The Future of Business Travel

The future of corporate travel, both Navan and Kayak argue, isn’t necessarily tightly managed in the traditional sense. It’s smartly optimized. That means lighter controls layered over flexible, self-serve platforms.

“The future is mirroring consumer travel,” said Fouquet. “Employees should be able to book wherever it’s easiest, whether that’s on our platform, on the United app, or by calling an agent, and have it all sync into one system for the company.”

Butte agrees: “ Businesses are recognizing that an unmanaged approach doesn’t deliver the savings, efficiency, or traveler support they need in today’s environment. There’s a huge opportunity to show SMBs how easy it is to switch, and how quickly they can benefit from smarter, more efficient travel management.”