India’s rapidly expanding startup ecosystem and over 63 million MSMEs are emerging as the next frontier for managed corporate travel, prompting Booking. com to deepen its business travel proposition with a suite of India-specific enhancements designed to simplify travel management while balancing employee flexibility and organisational control. The online travel platform has rolled out new features for Booking. com for Business, including GST invoicing support, AI-powered expense management, traveller safety tools, spend controls and flexible payment options, as it seeks to make corporate travel management more accessible for startups and small and medium enterprises. The platform, which is free to use, provides access to more than 31 million accommodation listings and over 500 airlines serving 4,500 destinations globally. Speaking exclusively to ETTravelWorld, Santosh Kumar, Regional Head, South Asia, Booking. com, said India’s business travel landscape is undergoing a structural shift, with managed travel no longer being the preserve of large corporations. “Historically, managed travel solutions have largely been designed for large enterprises with dedicated travel teams and sizeable travel budgets. However, for startups and SMEs expanding across cities, travel has often been managed through fragmented consumer platforms, manual processes or local travel operators. This continues to represent one of the most significant gaps in India’s evolving business travel landscape,” Kumar said. He noted that as businesses expand, travel becomes increasingly complex, creating demand for better visibility into travel spend, streamlined GST processes, improved duty of care for employees and consumer-grade booking experiences. “Our objective is to make sophisticated travel management accessible to businesses of every size, enabling growing organisations to benefit from the same capabilities traditionally associated with large enterprises, without the complexity or cost barriers,” he added. Kumar believes the evolution of corporate travel is also being driven by changing employee expectations, particularly as business and leisure travel continue to converge. “The lines between business and leisure travel continue to be less rigid. Employees are extending work trips, working remotely for an additional day or selecting accommodation that supports both productivity and wellbeing. According to Booking. com’s Travel Trends 2026 report, 82 per cent of Indian travellers plan to extend their business travel for leisure,” he said. To address this shift, Booking. com for Business has been designed to offer organisations greater governance through travel policies and budget controls, while allowing employees to continue using the familiar consumer interface and extensive inventory that Booking. com is known for. Artificial intelligence is expected to play an increasingly important role in shaping the future of business travel. Kumar said technology is helping simplify increasingly complex travel decisions while reducing friction throughout the traveller journey. “Business travel today requires professionals to balance multiple considerations—from selecting the most suitable flights and accommodation to ensuring compliance with company policies, managing budgets and adapting to last-minute itinerary changes,” he explained. Highlighting the company’s investments in AI, Kumar said Booking. com has been leveraging machine learning long before the technology became mainstream. One example is its AI-powered expense management tool that allows travellers to photograph receipts and automatically create and share expense reports. However, he stressed that AI should complement—not replace—the human element of travel. “We see AI as an enabler of better decision-making rather than a replacement for human expertise. The most meaningful travel experiences will continue to combine intelligent technology with empathy, flexibility and trusted human support,” he said.
Looking at the broader market opportunity, Kumar described India as one of the world’s fastest-growing business travel markets. Citing the 2025 GBTA Business Travel Index, he said India ranks sixth globally in business travel spending and is expected to reach USD 48.3 billion in 2026, growing 12.5 per cent year-on-year. Beyond traditional hubs such as Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi, emerging business corridors fuelled by startups, manufacturing investments and Global Capability Centres (GCCs) are expanding demand across a wider range of cities. He also sees the company’s business travel offering as a strategic extension of Booking. com’s consumer business, particularly as traveller expectations increasingly converge across leisure and corporate segments. “The broader Indian corporate travel market is expected to expand to USD 81.5 billion by 2034. India is an important market for us, with a rapidly growing startup ecosystem, thriving SME sector and increasing digital adoption. Organisations are seeking scalable technology solutions that can evolve alongside their businesses,” Kumar said. According to him, the future of corporate travel lies in creating connected, end-to-end journeys rather than isolated bookings. “Business travellers increasingly expect a connected journey rather than a series of individual bookings. Our Connected Trip vision already brings together accommodation, flights, travel policies, spend controls, GST support, traveller safety tools and flexible payment options. As business travel continues to evolve, our focus remains on simplifying travel through connected technology that supports both organisational objectives and the evolving expectations of today’s workforce,” Kumar concluded. Go to Source
