Travel management must keep up with the way that people's lifestyles are changing, Paul Tilstone, executive director of the UK and Ireland Institute of Travel Management (ITM) said.
Speaking at the Corporate Travel and Expense Forum in London organised by Management Solutions (UK), Mr Tilstone said travel was not about which flight travellers booked but about how effective they were at the end of the trip.
"The travel management companies (TMCs) need to start looking at things differently, like managing meetings space whether they are internal or external. Travel is about facilitating these meetings.
"We should be getting involved in areas like video-conferencing which has not had its day yet. Environmental issues are also becoming more important.
"I don't think TMCs provide true consultancy at the point of sale but corporates are also not prepared to pay for expertise.
"There has been a tendency to beat up TMCS over price, to treat travel as a commodity. But corporate need to understand the value TMCs bring and be prepared to pay for it," he said.
Mr David Brown, vp of Gullivers Travel Association, said that travellers were increasingly seeing travel as a pain.
"Travel is not fun anymore, especially in the US where it is going from point A to point B. We should be concentrating on the whole travel experience rather than the cost.
"We tend to concentrate on the cost rather than the travel," he said.
Alex Woodworth, account management director for FCmTravel Solutions, said one of the biggest recent changes was that corporates were giving more weight to service rather than cost.
Sarah Makings, senior buyer procurement for KPMG, said travel at her company was also getting "a lot more visibility" especially in areas like environmental issues and safety and security where new policies had been introduced.
* See BTE Analysis