Happy With The Experience
While over half (54%) of business travellers have experienced a mishap while on the road for work in the last year – with 52% reporting they had a delayed flight and 40% a cancelled flight – the vast majority (86%) of global travellers are satisfied with their overall business travel experiences.
That’s the findings of the newly relaunched GBTA Business Traveler Sentiment Index — in partnership with RoomIt by CWT, the hotel distribution division of CWT, the B2B4E travel management platform.
Traveller experience proved to have the largest impact (54%) on business traveller satisfaction. Given the large percentage of travellers who have experienced air disruptions, it is no surprise flights were a leading factor in traveler experience.
Yet, the travel components most closely correlated with travel satisfaction are hotel-driven, including staying at conveniently located hotels, booking air and hotel, the hotel check-in/check-out process, and payment for travel arrangements.
Convenient hotels and consistent Wi-Fi access top the list of most important factors for business travellers while on the road. Latin American (52%) and North American (44%) road warriors are much more likely to want to stay at a conveniently located hotel to where they need to be for their trip compared to travellers in Europe (32%) or Asia Pacific (30%).
Additionally, Latin American travellers are far more likely to find consistent Wi-Fi access very important (60%) than travellers in North America (47%), Europe (37%) or Asia Pacific (35%).
Hotel amenities such as free breakfast and being able to acquire or use travel rewards and perks at their own discretion are also close behind on the list of factors that matter most for business travellers.
Peggy Studer, vice president of marketing at RoomIt by CWT, observed: “We understand that hotels provide a safe haven for business travellers. Our philosophy at RoomIt is to offer travellers more choice — types of accommodations, locations, amenities and loyalty points — and an overall better booking experience to encourage employees to book within their travel programs. We understand business travel and meetings can be stressful, but your hotel and booking experience shouldn’t be.”
Scott Solombrino, GBTA COO and executive director, noted that: “Traveller experience has been an industry buzz word for the past few years now, but the survey results clearly demonstrate just how much it really does matter to road warriors.”
Solombrino pointed out that: “As the workforce continues to diversify, there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to business travel, meaning choice and flexibility should be a key consideration when developing travel policies.”
Go to www.gbta.org for more.
