Business Travel Outlook: Travel to Increase in 2014 According to New Frequent Business Traveler Survey
Road Warriors Show Brand Loyalty, Work Out, and Stay Connected
Business travelers say they will be packing their roll-aboards more often next year, according to a new Frequent Business Traveler survey.
For the second year, more than one-third of business travelers surveyed said they plan on taking more trips in the coming year (2014) as compared to the current, while over 50% said they anticipate taking more trips in 2014 than they did two years ago in 2012.
The survey was conducted by Frequent Business Traveler in association with FlyerTalk, the world’s largest online travel community, during the last quarter of 2013, and garnered responses from over 1,300 respondents.
The survey found that travelers are more loyal to their favorite airlines than to hotel brands: over 93% of those surveyed said they prefer to fly with a particular airline or alliance, while only 72% said they prefer to stay at a particular brand of hotel. Within those two groups, airline customers overwhelmingly fly with their favorite airline or alliance, even if the flights are not as convenient as those offered by another airline, while only slightly more than half said they would travel to a less conveniently located hotel in order to stay with a favorite brand.
HOTEL PREFERENCES
When it comes to loyalty, once again, almost three quarters of those surveyed said they prefer to stay at their favorite brand of hotel. In addition, 55% will stay at their favorite brand even if the property isn’t conveniently located (down slightly from last year’s survey) while the rest will select a different hotel option. Out of the 84% of travelers who said they work from the hotel when traveling, roughly 86% say that they often do so in their hotel room, a figure that is virtually unchanged from last year. Lounges increased in popularity as almost 6% said they prefer to work there, while the number of travelers who say they like to work in a hotel’s lobby dropped from 7% to less than 1%.
The number of travelers who say that their experience at hotels within a given brand “varies greatly” rose from 16.8% to 19.2%, although the majority of business travelers surveyed continued to mention that there was “some difference” in their experience. Under 13%, a figure similar to last year’s, maintain that their experience was largely the same regardless of location.
When it comes to dining, two-thirds of respondents prefer to eat at a restaurant outside the hotel. The number of travelers who prefer dining at the hotel was virtually unchanged, with 10% eating in hotel restaurants and 7% using room service, something that may change as several hotels in the U.S. have announced plans to discontinue in-room dining.
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