Travel Tech calls on Senate Finance Committee and travel tech industry members to take action.
Wednesday, June 11, 2025 — The Travel Technology Association (Travel Tech), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and protecting the travel technology industry, sent a letter to the Senate Finance Committee today urging it to make permanent the full and immediate expensing of R&D investments and bonus depreciation in its budget reconciliation bill. The Senate Finance Committee will soon consider this legislation in order to meet its self-imposed July 4th full Senate passage deadline.
The House-passed reconciliation bill, H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, extended R&D expensing and bonus depreciation for only five years. However, the permanence of these provisions is essential. Without permanence, travel tech companies, both large and small, will face difficulties in planning multi-year investments in technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. These innovations are transforming customer expectations and market dynamics in the travel industry.
“Permanent R&D expensing and bonus depreciation tax provisions directly enhance the ability of travel technology platforms to deploy new features faster, improve system performance, and compete in the global travel marketplace driven by speed, scale, and service reliability,” said Laura Chadwick, president & CEO of Travel Tech. “These permanent tax provisions are essential to support innovation in the travel technology industry as it develops and deploys new AI-based tools.”
Federal R&D expensing allows businesses to immediately deduct the full cost of qualified research and development activities from their taxable income in the year the expenses are incurred. This accelerates tax savings, improves cash flow, and encourages innovation by reducing the after-tax cost of developing new products, technologies, or processes.
Bonus depreciation is a tax incentive that allows businesses to immediately deduct a large percentage of the cost of qualifying capital investments, like equipment, machinery, or certain software, in the year the asset is placed in service, rather than spreading the deduction over several years.
Travel Tech previously issued an “Action Alert” encouraging its members and industry stakeholders to contact their Senators to support permanent R&D tax expensing and bonus depreciation through its Policy Action Center. Travel Tech has pre-drafted a letter on these issues for industry members to easily send to their representatives directly from its Policy Action Center.
Learn more about Travel Tech’s policy priorities and take action to support Permanent R&D Expensing by visiting Travel Tech’s Policy Action Center.
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The Travel Technology Association (Travel Tech) empowers traveler choice by advocating for public policy that promotes marketplace transparency and competition. Travel Tech represents the leading innovators in travel technology, including online travel agencies, metasearch engines, short-term rental platforms, global distribution systems, and travel management companies.
To schedule an interview with a Travel Tech spokesperson, contact Bradford Williamson of Glen Echo Group at 202.870.3234 or bwilliamson@glenechogroup.com.
