Business travellers are being left out of pocket to the tune of over £140 on every trip, according to new research by industry currency conversion body the DCC Forum.
The findings show that travellers are failing to claim an average of £142 in expenses on each trip abroad, with fewer than one in eight being able to reclaim all of the money they are owed.
The research – carried out among 500 adults who said they travelled more than once a year on business purposes - also shows that on average business travellers take over three weeks to recoup their expenses.
Over four fifths of travellers admit to exceeding their allocated spending budgets, on average by some £162, with only one in ten saying they have never exceeded their budget.
When it comes to making payments abroad, less than one in ten travellers said they were happy to use personal funds, even if they could “swiftly recoup the costs through expenses”.
Two thirds said they used credit or debit cards for “the majority” of their expensed purchases abroad, with less than one in ten using pre-paid cash cards, and one in 20 using mobile payment options such as Apple Pay.
The DCC Forum is an industry body advocating the best practice of Dynamic Currency Conversion – where travellers can opt to have foreign transactions converted into home currency.
Mark Caswell