Corporate travel programs are wasting money each year on dining & entertainment, mobile plans and ground transportation, according to a newly released paper by BCD Travel.

Most companies carefully manage air, hotel, car rental and rail. But those categories account for only three quarters of total travel spend. A full quarter of the travel budget gets sucked up by hidden categories like dining that companies neither manage nor track.

"Travelers tend to make spending decisions independently and on the fly," said Claudia Unger, BCD Travel director of Research & Intelligence. "They'll select a mobile carrier that supports their chosen device, drop into a convenient restaurant that looks good and automatically hail a cab at the airport. Those decisions often drive up costs that we now can bring down by intervening at just the right moment to help travelers make smart buying decisions."

Mobile technology and a new generation of virtual service providers are creating opportunities to book, measure and manage what was previously unmanageable. As a result, companies can save 20-25% on these categories, according to the paper, Hidden spend: Mining a rich new vein of savings.

Available for download at www.bcdtravel.com, Hidden Spend examines strategies that corporate travel managers may begin using immediately to promote smart trip spending choices and drive savings.