Business travelers contribute an estimated 111.7 billion dollars to the US tourism industry each year* so their business is extremely important to the hotel industry. What then do America’s business travelers really care about when staying at hotels? Aside from wifi (surely that’s a no brainer in today’s day and age), what amenities do America’s hard working men and women think are important in hotels?
A recent survey commissioned by HotelsCombined indicates that business travelers care the most about complimentary breakfast with 60% of respondents saying that this is an important amenity when traveling for business. 46% of travelers also think a bar/restaurant in the hotel is important, while 39% consider the gym/fitness centre as an important feature.
“Business travelers don’t spend a great amount of time in their hotel so the things they care about are pretty straight forward, as the results show,” said Chris Rivett, travel expert at HotelsCombined. “Food and drink are top priorities for business travelers and this is one of the reasons why hotels are luring high profile chefs, mixologists and sommeliers to their hotel restaurant/bar,” added Rivett. So, what amenities are less important for business travelers? Results show that the thoughtful nightly turn down is not appreciated. Only 10% of American business travelers consider this to be an important amenity/service in hotels.
The two other poor performers are washing/dry cleaning and concierge. Only 12% of respondents (for each service) stating that these things are important to them while staying at a hotel. “Once again, these results show that business travelers are busy while on the road. They might have time to fit in a quick gym session, if they’re lucky, but they definitely don’t have time to get any washing done“ said Rivett.
*Reference: Certify
Note: this market research was commissioned by HotelsCombined using GCS. The survey was completed by 500 American business travelers who had traveled for business reasons in the last twelve months.
Note: this market research was commissioned by HotelsCombined using GCS. The survey was completed by 500 American business travelers who had traveled for business reasons in the last twelve months.
