Imagine arriving after a long flight, only to find your passport is no longer valid due to a coup d’état in your home country. You’re stranded in a foreign airport, unable to enter or exit the country, with no idea how long you’ll be stuck there. It’s unlikely that business travellers will face a situation like Tom Hanks’ character in “The Terminal”, but disruptions happen more frequently than you might expect, and the financial consequences can pile up quickly.
In 2024, nearly 8 in 10 business travellers experienced disruptions during work trips. These disruptions, ranging from cancellations to severe delays, have real consequences. For instance, in the US alone, more than 102,000 flights were cancelled, leaving business travellers stranded, missing key meetings, and scrambling to rearrange their schedules. The result? Lost productivity, increased stress, and unexpected financial costs.
When unexpected disruptions hit, finance teams must often confront expenses that can quickly escalate.
For finance leaders, these disruptions bring hidden costs that can add up fast, including emergency accommodations, rebooking fees, extended per diem, and the potential loss of business opportunities. On average, a single business trip can cost over €1400. When disruptions occur, those costs can quickly increase by hundreds, or even thousands, leaving companies exposed to unplanned financial strain.
As a CFO or finance leader, it’s essential to understand these hidden costs and have a proactive strategy in place to manage them. In this article, we’ll explore the financial impact of travel disruptions and share strategies to help finance teams prepare for and mitigate these unexpected costs.
The importance of a proactive expense policy
Disruption doesn’t ask for permission. It just shows up loud, inconvenient, and expensive. One minute, your team is in the air, the next, they’re grounded, phone in hand, trying to figure out what’s allowed and what’s not. The worst part? You can’t afford delays in decision-making when costs keep rising by the minute. That’s why a proactive expense policy is more than just a nice-to-have; it’s a strategic necessity that can help you save costs.
An expense policy sets the rules before chaos ensues. It provides clear spending limits, guidance on emergency bookings, and a shared understanding across finance, travel teams, managers and employees. When that foundation is in place, decisions are faster, smarter, and easier to justify.
Good policies don’t just list what’s allowed; they anticipate edge cases. Can employees book business class if no other options are available? What happens if a hotel raises its prices mid-check-in? Is Uber okay, or should they call a taxi? A strong policy doesn’t leave people guessing. It makes decisions easier when the pressure is high.
It also helps finance teams avoid unnecessary review cycles. When people know what’s in scope, there’s less back-and-forth, less rework, and fewer surprises at the end of the month.
An expense policy sets the rules before chaos ensues. When that foundation is in place, decisions are faster, smarter, and easier to justify.
Still, having a policy isn’t the same as making sure it’s followed. That’s where technology steps in. When your expense management software can enforce the rules, such as flagging overspending on a specific claim or automating approvals for low-risk expenses, your policy becomes more than a PDF. It becomes standard practice for the whole team.
In the end, it’s about control. Not over your employees, but over the outcome. And in moments of disruption, that control is exactly what keeps a bad day from becoming a bad quarter.
But even the best policies and platforms need to be supported by action. When things go wrong, what matters most is how quickly your team can respond.
Your 5-step playbook for managing travel disruption
In February 2025, a storm rolled over Amsterdam, grounding flights and sending travel plans into disarray. Among those affected was Daniel Gloyne, Rydoo’s Head of Partnerships, who suddenly found himself stranded at the airport. But instead of being stranded, he rebooked and resumed his journey home within minutes, all with a Rydoo Card to cover the cost, and built-in policy rules through Rydoo’s software. No emails, personal expenses or added delays.
Why did it work? Because the policy was clear, and the tools were already in place. When a disruption hits, those are the two things that matter most. And it’s exactly the kind of response every finance team should be ready to replicate.
Here’s what needs to happen when plans fall apart:
1. Communicate quickly and clearly
Travellers need to know what’s happening and who to reach. Whether it’s a dedicated Slack channel, a hotline, or shared inbox, the first step is establishing clear, fast lines of communication between affected travellers and internal teams.
2. Activate emergency guidelines
Set expectations early. What’s allowed? Are there updated spending limits? Do employees need manager approval, or can they move fast? Emergency guidelines should be concise, accessible, and easy to follow, especially when decisions need to be made in minutes, not hours.
3. Give employees the tools to act
When employees are empowered with the right tools, they can take control. Daniel used real-time airline alerts, in-app bookings, and a Rydoo Card to act without waiting for approvals or reimbursements. The same should be true for any employee caught in a disruption.
4. Automate what you can
Automating expense processes and approvals is crucial when volume spikes. Rydoo’s Smart Audit and automated expense rules help flag all out-of-policy spending and automatically approve low-risk claims. This way, there are no delays, which keeps the flow moving even under the highest of pressures.
5. Keep finance in control
Even when things move quickly, finance should never lose sight of the bigger picture. Real-time dashboards and instant notifications ensure visibility over who’s spending what, where, and why, so there are no surprises when the expenses come in.
Having a policy isn’t the same as making sure it’s followed. That’s where technology steps in.
No one can predict the next major disruption, but finance leaders can decide how prepared their organisation will be when it happens.
The problem isn’t just the event itself, it’s the ripple effect: unexpected costs, stalled approvals, employee frustration, and a finance team left to sort through the aftermath. Left unmanaged, these moments turn into missed opportunities and expensive lessons. But with the right structure in place, a clear policy, reliable tools, and empowered teams, no plans or budgets need to be derailed.
Proactive finance leaders need to budget for unpredictability, build flexible policies, and use real-time data to adapt on the go. This will give employees the confidence to act quickly, knowing the system has their back.
That’s where technology can help, by bringing policy, automation, and visibility together in one place. From automated expense approvals and Smart Audit to Rydoo Cards that eliminate out-of-pocket spend, solutions such as Rydoo’s are the foundation finance teams need to turn disruption into another part of the process.
The tools are here. The question is: will you be ready when the next disruption hits?