Consumers Are “Going Everywhere…Except The Office”, AmEx CEO Says This Week

According to American Express, spending is still almost “everywhere you want to be”. Except in the office and for business travel, that is…

The company’s Chief Executive Officer Stephen Squeri said this week that “corporate travel will never be the same” after the pandemic, Bloomberg reported. This is despite the fact that U.S. consumers “staged a robust comeback” in the last quarter of 2021, he said.

In fact, spending on travel and entertainment has actually passed pre-Covid levels. But business spending is still about 33% of what it once was, the report says. 

On Tuesday, the AmEx chief said: “People are skeptical about business travel because of all the remote workforce.”

He continued: “Business travel is going to be completely different. And, I think, as you have more people in more remote locations, they may need to get together three, four, maybe five times a year to come to headquarters.”

Squeri, talking about how the climate for work has changed since employees abandoned their offices in 2020, concluded about Covid: “Consumers are learning to live with it — we’re over it. They’re going everywhere right now except the office.”