Gen Z Is Upending Business Travel Payments

As Gen Z graduates join internships, sales teams and consulting firms, their expectation for seamless, mobile-first payments is pressuring corporate travel programs to ditch clunky reimbursement systems in favor of mobile virtual cards.

This can be a pain point for legacy finance systems struggling to adapt.

What started as a fintech perk is fast becoming table stakes, especially as global business travel spending is projected to hit a record $1.57 trillion this year.

Business Travel Payments Innovation

The timing is not accidental. In 2025, the first wave of Gen Z-heavy workforces is traveling for work in significant numbers. Gen Zers are now about 13- to 28- years old.

This is a generation raised on Apple Pay, Cash App, and frictionless online shopping. Their expectations are colliding with a corporate travel system still struggling with paper receipts and weeks-long reimbursement cycles.

“Gen Z travelers h