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JOHANNESBURG – Everyone is talking about AI, but new data reveals a trust gap: only 10% of business travel buyers actually trust it with their bookings.
If you’ve attended a conference or scrolled LinkedIn, the robot revolution sounds imminent. Agentic AI can plan your trip, book your flights, predict delays and make decisions on your behalf. And in many ways, the tech is genuinely delivering.
Yet research from last year’s Business Travel Show America (October 2026), shows that only 10% of travel buyers currently trust AI-generated recommendations for bookings, itineraries, and policy support. That’s not a rejection of the technology (especially as 30% of buyers indicated their willingness to try new tools), it’s a sign of where we are in the adoption curve – and the level of uncertainty that still exists.
The ‘black box’ problem
Put simply, black box AI refers to complex artificial intelligence systems where the internal decision-making process is hidden (or incomprehensible) to humans. While users can observe the inputs and outputs, the specific steps, weights, and logic used to generate a result are not interpretable, creating serious trust and transparency challenges.
Additionally, the stakes are high in corporate travel. If ChatGPT writes a bad poem, it’s funny. But if AI books a CEO into a non-compliant hotel in a high-risk zone or routes a team through an airport that requires a transit visa they don’t have, it’s a disaster.
FCM Consulting’s latest Insights Report offers a useful lens: the ‘3am in Frankfurt’ test.
Imagine it’s the middle of the night. A business traveller’s connecting flight has just been cancelled, the next available seat isn’t until the following afternoon, and a critical client meeting hangs in the balance. In one scenario, an AI-driven system responds within minutes – rebooking the traveller, securing a nearby hotel, updating the itinerary, and notifying both the traveller and their manager before they’ve had a chance to panic.
But a seasoned consultant might know of a high-speed train connection or a different airline alliance that gets the traveller there by morning – options that never surfaced in the system’s results.
This is where the either/or framing of the AI debate starts to break down. For FCM, the more useful question isn’t whether AI or humans handle the 3am crisis, it’s how well they work together when it counts.
“The best outcomes happen when technology is doing what it’s best at, like processing huge amounts of information quickly, and people are doing what they’re best at: making decisions, solving complex problems, and delivering care,” says Mummy Mafojane, GM of FCM South Africa.
Data blindness
And there’s another challenge for South African travel managers. Most global AI models are trained on Western datasets that don’t always capture the fragmented reality of African travel. An algorithm might seamlessly book a flight from London to New York, but it often lacks full visibility into local low-cost carriers or regional accommodation providers that haven’t fully digitised their inventory via global APIs (application programming interface). If the AI can’t see the full picture, the buyer can’t trust the price.
As Mafojane explains:
“We operate in a high-touch environment in South Africa. Our travel managers are dealing with a fluctuating rand, complex visa requirements for international and intra-Africa travel, and duty of care responsibilities that carry serious consequences. When you’re managing that level of complexity, trust is built on accountability. Buyers are saying, ‘I need to know that if the tech fails, there is a person to catch the ball.’ So, rather than a rejection of technology, the scepticism we see in the data is a demand for reliability.”
Assistance, not autonomy
The hesitation revolves around control, but the root cause is financial. In the traditional high-touch model, if a human consultant makes a booking error, the travel management company (TMC) usually absorbs the cost to rectify it. But if an autonomous AI ‘hallucinates’ a flight connection that doesn’t exist, or books a non-refundable rate against policy, who is liable? Until tech providers clarify the indemnification for algorithmic errors, travel buyers will naturally keep their hands firmly on the wheel.
Booking.com’s recent Global AI Sentiment Report backs this up. While 91% of consumers are ‘excited’ about AI, only 12% are comfortable letting it make decisions independently. And the vast majority (67%) view AI as an assistant rather than a manager.
Travel buyers are on the same page. The Business Travel Show research indicates that while they don’t want AI making the final call, they’re desperate for help with the grunt work.
- 25% want AI to automate routine admin (freeing them up for strategy).
- 23% want proactive disruption management.
- 21% want better data insights to stretch their budgets.
“The move is from ‘Artificial Intelligence’ to ‘Assisted Intelligence’,” notes Mafojane. “Rather than replacing professional travel manager, we need the robot to be the best (and fastest) intern the travel manager has ever had, handling the data entry, reconciliation, and pattern spotting, so the human can focus on the traveller.”
It’s a distinction FCM is already acting on with the relaunch of Sam, their AI-powered virtual assistant.
“The design philosophy behind Sam is what sets it apart from the wave of chatbots appearing across the industry,” says John Morhous, FCM’s global Chief Experience Officer.
“A lot of our competitors have essentially just bolted a large language model onto a support workflow. Sam is built to work differently – drawing on a traveller’s profile, duty of care data, risk tools and live operational systems to answer questions in context, rather than in isolation. It’s not a frustrating and shallow question/answer/question/answer scenario. It has real virtual assistant capabilities that encompass the entire travel programme.”
Mafojane explains that Sam is available across FCM’s proprietary booking platform, app and browser extension, offering up-to-the-minute information and support, ensuring all bookings comply with a company’s individual travel policy – and keeping traveller preferences top of mind.
Bridging the gap
So, how do we move from scepticism to trust?
- Transparency is non-negotiable
The ‘black box’ era is over. Tech providers need to show their working. If AI recommends a route, it needs to explain why. Is it cheaper? More sustainable? - Start small (and safe)
Trust is earned in drops and lost in buckets. The FCM Consulting report suggests that corporates wary of AI start with low-risk pilots. Don’t hand over your entire booking process on day one. Start with expense management or reporting. Let the systems prove they can handle the data before you let them handle your people. - 3. The human safety net
Perhaps the most critical factor for the South African market is the hybrid model.
“The future of corporate travel is digital-forward, human-always. The companies that will succeed in bridging this trust gap are the ones that use AI to make their people faster and smarter, not the ones trying to remove people from the equation,” says Mafojane.
The verdict?
The 90% of buyers who don’t trust AI yet are pragmatists. They’re waiting for the tech to prove it understands the messy, unpredictable, human reality of business travel.
Until the algorithm can empathise with a traveller stuck at O.R. Tambo, or negotiate a waiver on a non-refundable ticket, the human element remains the ultimate premium feature.
Problem… solved? Not quite. “But with the right balance of high-tech and high-touch, we’re getting there,” Mafojane concludes.
**ends**
For more information about FCM Travel call Sonnette Fourie on 081 072 2869 or email sonnette@bigambitions.co.za.
About FCM Travel:
FCM Travel, the flagship corporate travel brand at Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG), is the business travel partner of choice for large national, multinational and global corporations. We are an award-winning global corporate travel management company ranking as one of the top five by size around the world. We operate a global network which spans more than 100 countries, employing over 6000 people.
FCM are transforming the business of travel through our empowered and accountable people who deliver 24/7 service and are available either online or offline. Leveraging FCM’s negotiating strength and supplier relationships in conjunction with our tailored business travel programs, our expertise delivers more for our clients where it matters most to them.
Visit us at www.fcmtravel.co.za
Issued by: Big Ambitions
Contact: Sonnette Fourie
Tel: +27 81 072 2869
Email: sonnette@bigambitions.co.za
