Published: 10 June 2026
58 Ways to Turn Work Travel Into Free Flights, Hotel Stays and Tax Savings
If your employer spends thousands of pounds each year on flights, hotels, rail travel and expenses for your business travel, there is a good chance you are missing out on valuable rewards and savings.
How to Maximise Business Travel Rewards
Most companies are perfectly happy for their employees to collect airline miles, hotel points and loyalty rewards from business travel, yet many travellers fail to take full advantage of these opportunities. Add airport reward schemes, credit card benefits and travel promotions, and the value can quickly add up. Sometimes it is just as important to claim back everything you have spent and make sure you are claiming the tax relief on your business mileage.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to maximise the personal benefits from work travel without costing your employer an extra penny.
The 10 Biggest Opportunities Most Business Travellers Miss
Frequent flyer programmes
Hotel points
Heathrow Rewards
UK/EU261 claims
Tax relief on mileage- 🚂 Delay Repay
Maximising credit card spend
Railcards
Amex Offers
Hotel promotions
Flights
- If your employer is happy for you to credit your work flights to a Frequent Flyer Programme, make sure you do exactly that. Airlines prioritise their members in overbooking and rebooking situations plus the frequent flyer miles earned can get you closer to a redemption flight to a dream destination.
- Choose your main airline programme(s) carefully and make sure that you can make the best use of the miles and status benefits. If the majority of your work travel is on KLM, you can still choose to credit these flights to Garuda Indonesia but if you are not going to Jakarta any time soon, it is probably best to credit them to KLM or Virgin Atlantic. Years ago I credited a lot of short haul BA flying to American Airlines and then realised that the miles & taxes/charges required for a BA operated short-haul flight were much more than if I had booked with Avios on BA..
- If you travel enough and earn status in the airline, your life will be made easier with access to priority check-in, fast-track security, business lounges and you will be amongst the first to board the plane. Great for you but it will also earn you some brownie points if you can guest your boss into the lounge when you are travelling together.
- Even if you are not interested in points redemptions or airline status, being a member of the airline’s frequent flyer scheme will mean you are less likely to be offloaded in an overbooking situation and you may be able to use the points elsewhere (you can convert Avios into Nectar points and get 0.5p per point ar Sainsbury’s and Argos).
- To ensure you always credit your flights, make sure you have your frequent flyer numbers setup correctly in the corporate travel agent’s booking portal. Ideally add only one frequent flyer programme per airline alliance so there is no danger of the flight being credited to the wrong account.
- However, if you are travelling on a different airline in the alliance, just check that you are maximising your miles. Use wheretocredit.com to make sure you credit the airline programme that will give you the maximum number of miles for your trip. If needed, you can usually change your frequent flyer number at the airport check in desk.
- If you have status in one airline, you can look at a status match, where another airline will grant you reciprocal status based on your level with your current airline. Sometimes these are linked to flying a minimum number of segments and can require payment of an admin fee but this can be a useful way of gaining status in another airline alliance without having to start from scratch.
- If you have a delay, cancellation or are denied boarding and are flying on an UK or EU carrier (or flying from a UK or EU airport), you could be entitled to compensation via UK/EU261. Depending on the circumstances, this is currently worth £220-£520 per person so is well worth considering claiming. Many travellers regard compensation as personal because it relates to disruption suffered by the traveller rather than the ticket purchaser, especially when it has impacted personal time.
- Flying indirectly (or even adding extra segments) can often be cheaper for your employer but also get you closer to airline status. Silver status in the British Airways Club can be achieved by crediting 50 BA/partner flight segments in a year, and Flying Blue generally awards more XPs for trips with multiple segments.
- If you are flying BA, it might make sense to book your trip as a BA Holiday if you need a car and/or a hotel as well as additional tier points and avios are awarded for BA Holiday bookings. Use this option with caution, as if you are travelling with someone else, the tier points and bonus avios are split equally among all the travellers on the booking and not to the lead booker. Also note that a BA Holidays invoice will not give a proper VAT breakdown for the hotel/car hire element and as such may not be acceptable to your employer.
Hotels
- The loyalty schemes of the main international hotel chains enable you to earn points that you can redeem for free hotel stays. Unlike with airlines, you do not pay any taxes or fees on your booking so they can be really attractive for regular business travellers.
- In addition, earning hotel status through work travel can give you some additional benefits that you can use for your leisure travel. For example Hilton offers their Gold status customers free breakfast for the member and a registered guest sharing their room – worth a decent amount if you are staying in a nice hotel in London.
- As with flights, make sure you get the points from work stays. Employers generally do not mind you benefiting from this as it is a small bonus for the inconvenience of staying away and it does not cost them any money.
- Pick a scheme that will work for you that has hotels located where you are likely to stay regularly and prioritise the hotel brands in that programme. There is little point in spreading all your stays across 5 different schemes only to find that you will never earn enough points to be able to get a free night.
- Pick a scheme that has suitable hotels in locations where you are likely to want to redeem the points. I used to stay 50 nights a year in Stockholm but despite being a top tier Nordic Choice (now Strawberry Hotels) member, I really struggled to use all the points I accrued as the UK redemption options were not the hotels I would stay in, even for free.
- Join every major hotel loyalty scheme. Despite the previous points, there will be times that you cannot stay in your favoured chain. Never leave points on the table and you can usually convert unwanted points into airline miles.
- Make sure you opt-in to the (mainly) quarterly hotel promotions. For example, Hilton will often run bonus offers where members can get fixed or percentage based extra points for hotel stays. These are only awarded to members who have opted in to the current promotion.
- As with airlines, status matching is regularly offered by hotel programmes in the hope of switching regular travellers across. These “challenges” typically allow a fast-track to elite status by staying a certain number of nights within a fixed period.
- Consider using the Hotels.com Rewards scheme which entitles you to £100 worth of Hotels.comCash (ie money of a booking) when you have booked and stayed 10 nights. Just be careful with this if you are claiming expenses as you will likely not get a VAT receipt. Also note that stays booked via online travel agencies will not usually count for loyalty points earning (although bookings through corporate travel agencies such as Navan or Egencia should be fine)
Ground Transport
- You can earn Avios on many Uber trips in the UK & Ireland. See our guide here.
- If you park at Heathrow airport for work trips you can collect Heathrow Rewards points
- Make sure you join the appropriate train loyalty scheme to suit your travel. LNER Perks pays 2% credit to your account for travelling on their services (even if booked elsewhere) and Uber pays 2 avios per £ on UK rail travel.
- Most railcards cost £35 a year and save 1/3 off travel. If you can get your employer to pay for your railcard, it will save them money and you can use it for your leisure travel too. See our guide to Railcards here.
- All the major car hire companies have loyalty programmes. Regular customers can get upgrades or free rentals in return for their spend. Top tier members of car rental programmes get additional benefits and you may be able to get a higher tier of membership with your a credit card or airline status.
- You can also earn Avios with all 5 major car rental firms – see our guide here
- You can claim compensation for late train arrivals through the Delay Repay scheme – check the website of the relevant train operator as the processes work slightly differently. Clearly there is a moral element to keeping any compensation from a trip paid for by your employer, but if I got home late from a business trip and that had eaten into my personal time, I would expect the compensation to be paid to me. You should however, check your company travel/expenses policy to see if they have a view on this.
- If you live in London or ever visit the capital, you should register your contactless credit and debit cards in your TFL account. That way you can login and download receipts to claim for any travel made when tapping in and out on the London transport network.
Airports
- If you travel internationally, you can often (but not always) save money buying goods in airport duty free shops, not just for yourself but your friends and family might appreciate it too. Also joining Club Avolta entitles you to additional discounts at most airports.
- If you are a regular flyer for work, you might want to try and convince your employer to pay for a lounge membership which you could argue would improve your productivity whilst travelling. See our guide to Lounge Memberships here
- If you travel through Heathrow, you can collect Heathrow Rewards points on most of your spend. These can either be turns into vouchers to spend at the airport or converted into airline miles. See our guide to Heathrow Rewards here
Food & Drinks
- If you eat at your hotel, put food, drinks and other incidentals on your room rather than paying separately. This will ensure the loyalty points are paid on your total spend and not just the accommodation element.
- Download apps from the likes of Costa, Starbucks, Greggs and McDonalds. Unfortunately, travelling for work often means picking up fast food and in return for scanning their app when you order, you can earn rewards such as free food & drinks which you can use another time.
- Book a restaurant with OpenTable. Each booking generates points which can be converted into restaurant spend or Amazon vouchers.
Paying for Expenses
- If your company policy is to pay for your own travel, hotels and dining, and reclaim afterwards, make sure you have a credit card that can earn you points or cashback.
- If your employer does not provide corporate credit cards, you should always get the bill for the team dinner. This is a really good way of collecting extra points or cashback on your credit card, at no additional cost to yourself. Of course, do not consider doing this unless you have the cash flow to pay your credit card off in full each month.
- If you are being asked to travel extensively for work and cash flow is more of an issue, make sure you ask your employer for a corporate credit card or a cash advance to cover your expenses. Many years ago I started a role that involved extensive European travel and had to request a corporate card as I was struggling with personally paying and then waiting for repayment for the £5,000 a month expenses that I was accruing.
- If your employer provides you with a corporate American Express card, make sure that you make full use of the Membership Rewards programme (note some businesses do not allow their employees to transfer their points into their personal loyalty accounts)
- If you are someone who does not eat very much or prefers staying in basic hotels, working for a company that allows per diem expenses (fixed daily allowance for your dining and overnight costs) may be an interesting option to explore.
- If you are travelling overseas, make sure that you have a credit card for your personal expenditure that does not charge foreign exchange fees
- Conversely, if you are abroad and paying for your company travel yourself, a credit card that charges for foreign currency transactions but also gives additional rewards for that spend could be interesting. Just make sure you reclaim the sterling amount charged to your card.
- If you use your own credit card, make sure you opt in to promotions such as Amex Offers & MBNA Smart Rewards. There are regular travel offers which could generate significant
Mileage Claims
- If you use your own car for work and your employer does not reimburse you for your mileage or reimburses you at less than the HMRC approved mileage rate (currently 55p per mile for the first 10,000 miles), you can reclaim the difference in tax relief https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/vehicles-you-use-for-work
- If you have an electric car (private or company) and use it to travel for work, make sure it is fully charged at home before you leave or when you are at a company office. Earlier this year charged at the only EV station in the town that I was visiting for work and paid 89p per kWh, 4x what it would cost me at home on a standard tariff, The mileage claim for that trip resulted in my expenses not coming close to covering the cost of the electricity.
- Log all your mileage on a Google Sheet that you can access on all your devices so when you file your claim at the end of the month, you are not hunting around working out where you have been.
- On the Google Maps app, switch on the timeline function so when you are doing your mileage claim and can’t remember where you went on a particular day, you can find out on your phone.
- If your employer issues you with a fuel card, make sure you swipe your loyalty card/app to get points such as Tesco (Clubcard, converts to Virgin Points), Sainsburys (Nectar, converts to Avios), BP (BPme, converts to Avios), Shell (Shell GO+ Rewards, convert to gift cards) or Esso (Nectar or Tesco Clubcard, depends on the situation).
Bleisure Travel
- Take advantage of the Bleisure trend by combining a business trip with leisure time. If your employer allows it, fly out on the weekend before or if you are travelling at the end of the week, book your own hotel for a couple of nights and fly back on the weekend. The hotel points earned by travelling could fund a cheap weekend away.
- You could also consider to have your partner join you when you are away so you can share your hotel room and explore a new city, although before you do this you might want to consider your employer’s reaction to this if they were to find out…
- Review your company’s Work Abroad and Work Away From Home policies. Remote working has changed many people’s lives and this can be a fantastic opportunity to visit new places whilst working at the same time.
Best Practice
- Study your employer’s Travel & Expenses Policy. Under no circumstances should you try and circumvent the policy for personal gain
- Do not be tempted to book your flights and hotels as late as possible to maximise the price paid (and therefore the points earning). You should treat your company’s money as if it were your own and book accordingly. Do not put yourself in the position where you are asked to defend your expenditure.
- Make sure you are aware of any corporate travel benefits and use them if needed when travelling. My previous employer issued all international travellers with an insurance card to use in case of emergencies (it helped when my personal iPad was stolen) and you may be able to take advantage of corporate subscriptions such as TripIt Pro via Concur.
- If your company allows it, my strong advice is to book your own travel so you are in control. If you are travelling to somewhere you know well, you will have a preferred method of transport and hotels that are convenient for the office. Also being able to see all flight options will enable you, rather than someone else, make the value judgement of flight times vs price
- Alongside your frequent flyer numbers, put all hotel and car hire memberships into the corporate booking portal to make sure the points get credited to your booking
- Not really a money saving tip but hotels with gyms and swimming pools can pass the time in the evening and offset the additional food/drink that often comes with travelling for work
- Setup Work Travel folders in both your business and personal emails and use them to file all emailed booking confirmations and receipts so you are not hunting around when it comes to submitting your expenses.
- Take photos on your phone of every physical receipt you are given. That way you have a record of everything and do not miss out on claiming work expenses.
- All travel loyalty schemes generally have expiration dates. Make sure you keep your account active enough so your points do not expire.
Make Every Work Trip Count
Work travel can be tiring, disruptive and involve long hours away from home, but it can also provide opportunities to earn valuable rewards to make for a smoother travel experience and better future leisure trips.
By collecting airline miles, hotel points, loyalty rewards, optimising credit card spend and claiming tax relief on business mileage, many regular business travellers can generate significant value to earn redemption flights, free hotel stays and other travel perks. The key is to be organised, understand the programmes available and make sure you never leave points, rewards or tax relief unclaimed.
Most importantly, always follow your employer’s Travel & Expenses Policy. I realise this sounds like it comes out of the HR manual but the best work travel hacks are the ones that benefit both you and your employer.
