LONDON – Egencia, the business travel arm of the Expedia group, announces results from its * highlighting the increasing desire by business travellers for technology access and cross-device integration, along with greater productivity offerings, on the road. Instead of incentives such as priority boarding and airport lounge access topping business travellers’ wish lists, the study revealed travellers are looking to technology to make the corporate travel journey more productive and manageable.
Accessibility is a key theme to stay productive globally: two-thirds (66 percent) of business travellers across the world want to manage and book their business travel on every mobile device, not just on their smartphone, with 64 percent of UK business travellers making the ask. Additionally, 51 percent of British respondents would avoid human interaction on the road unless they are having a problem and half of British respondents want access to business travel tools to do more on mobile in general.
“We are at a turning point in business travel where standalone products are just not enough. Expectations of global business travellers are higher than ever before: they want instant access to information and management tools on every device, while operating autonomously,” said Rob Greyber, president of Egencia. “At Egencia, we also realise that satisfaction and productivity are not mutually exclusive for travel managers and business travellers, which is what drives us to continuously deliver integrated cross-device experiences to our customers around the world.”
According to the survey, business travellers are optimistic when it comes to technology’s role in improving their business travel experience. In the UK:
- 50 percent would like to use text to update their travel arrangements
- 41 percent believe advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) will help improve their travel experiences
While many business travellers globally today (70 percent) find business trips more enjoyable than everyday work life, according to the Egencia white paper, "Control: Find out what it means to your travellers," there are still incremental changes that can be made to increase overall satisfaction on the road – and it starts with productivity enhancements. Blurring the lines between business and pleasure, non-stop flights and in-flight Wi-Fi ranked high among business travellers as perks that would increase both their productivity and satisfaction. Rounding out the top four amenities business travellers cited to improve productivity and satisfaction are extra time off to compensate for traveling on weekends and/or personal time and class upgrades on flights longer than six hours.
*This study was conducted on behalf of Egencia by Northstar, a globally integrated strategic insights consulting firm. The study was conducted among 4521 business travellers aged 18 and older in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States (with n=500 surveys completed per country). Surveys were completed online in April and May 2017.
