Every year TravelBank analyzes hundreds of thousands of sampled travel bookings and expense reports submitted on our platform. By comparing these expenses to previous years, we see the evolution of how employees travel, do business, and go to work.

This year, business expense patterns look a lot like consumer spending, with Amazon, Apple, Dollar General, Walgreens, Dollar Tree, Costco, and CVS all dominating their categories. Woe to the accounting teams trying to audit and itemize these reports!

In 2025, T&E is opaque, at high risk of abuse, and flight and hotel programs are being eclipsed by the spend with retail merchants. As spending patterns shift, T&E policies are leaving gray areas, or even loopholes, with how much they don’t address.

Personal expenses like the mobile game Solitaire Cash are not only being expensed, they’re being reimbursed!