Asia Pacific Business Travelers Identify Top Challenges They Face on the Road

Frictionless Travel Can Impact Employee Recruitment and Retention

Alexandria, VA (October 10, 2017) – Time spent in transit is the most challenging aspect of business travel, according a new report released today by the GBTA Foundation – the education and research arm of the Global Business Travel Association. The work environment while travelling, layovers and rebooking flights and hotel stays also topped the list of most challenging aspects for Asia Pacific business travellers.

The study, Creating a Frictionless Travel Experience – Asia Pacific, conducted in partnership with Sabre Corporation identifies the main challenges business travellers face during their travel experience while also looking to understand what organizations are doing to make this experience a better one for their travellers. The top pain points all have one thing in common – they are time consuming and business travellers prefer to remain as productive as possible while on the road.

 

“It is no secret that business travel drives business growth and face-to-face interactions help get business done,” said Michael W. McCormick, GBTA executive director and COO. “Ultimately those who travel want to save time when possible, be productive and have a pleasant experience while accomplishing their business goals. A better understanding of the challenges business travellers face can help organizations better serve their road warriors as they work to provide the right tools, resources and policies.”

 

“With advances in technology, corporate travellers are plugged in and connected more than ever before. While the technology is out there, this report demonstrates that we still have work do to make corporate travel more seamless, reducing the number of apps and tools needed to organize their trip, while also optimizing compliance and reducing costs,” said Wade Jones, executive vice president and president, Sabre Travel Network. “It is critical we organize and align our resources to execute on integrating technology into a sustainable, data-rich platform that supports the business travel experience across the spectrum of planning and booking to reconciling expenses at the end of the journey.”

 

Why Does the Business Travel Experience Matter?
Business travel can have a considerable impact on employee satisfaction and retention as a large majority of business travellers say their business travel experience impacts their overall job satisfaction at least somewhat across all Asia Pacific markets. This is truer among Millennials.

Business travel not only influences how employees feel about their current company, it can also influence whether they take a job in the first place. A decent share of business travellers indicate a company’s travel policy is an important factor when considering a potential new employer. However, this share varies widely by regions ranging from 31 percent in Japan to 86 percent in India. Additionally, the vast majority of travellers say the quality of their business travel experience impacts their business results at least somewhat.

 

Improving the Traveller Experience
When asked what perks or amenities impact their business travel experience the most, convenient and comfortable hotels most often topped the list for business travellers, although it did vary slightly by region. Also high on the list were non-stop flights, paid time off for long trips and booking flexibility. Looking at optional purchases business travellers make on their own to improve their experience is also telling. These include hotel high-speed internet, airport lounge, black car service, airplane/train Wi-Fi and seat upgrades. Travellers most often mention that these purchases help them improve their productivity on the road.

 

Technology also makes an important contribution to business traveller satisfaction, enabling a more efficient travel process. Business travellers indicated a variety of technological amenities would enhance their travel experience with automated destination info, mobile payment, itinerary management apps, live chat capabilities for travel policy inquiries and safety apps topping the list in most regions. China-based travellers are especially interested in mobile payment, and along with their India-based counterparts, are especially interested in live chat capabilities for travel policy inquiries. Despite Japan’s reputation for technological innovation, its business travellers are less likely to say that various technological amenities would enhance their travel experience.

 

Around the Globe
The GBTA Foundation also surveyed business travellers in Europe, North America and Latin America. While there are many similarities among business travellers around the world, there are also several key differences.

 

 

 

For a release focused on each region, please click here: North America, Europe, Latin America.

 

More Information
The report, Creating a Frictionless Travel Experience – Asia Pacific, is available exclusively to GBTA members by clicking here and non-members may purchase the report through the GBTA Foundation by emailing pyachnes@gbtafoundation.org.

 

An Insights Deck featuring global and regional insights on how to create a frictionless travel experience is available at http://your.sabre.com/frictionless-travel.

 

Webinars: The GBTA Foundation and Sabre will host four regional webinars on this research. The webinars will focus on how the travel experience impacts overall job satisfaction of employees; understanding what key areas have the most impact on overall satisfaction with business travel; and identifying technology and travel policies that help drive and enhance traveler well-being.

 

Register today:
Europe – Monday, November 6 at 9am ET
Asia Pacific – Wednesday, November 15 at 6am ET
Latin America – Wednesday, November 15 at 9am ET (presented in Spanish)
The Americas – Wednesday, November 15 at 2pm ET
Methodology: The GBTA Foundation used a mixed-methods approach for data collection, consisting of an online survey of business travellers and in-depth interviews of travel buyers, travel management companies and human resource personnel in four different regions: Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America. Survey data was collected between March 28 and April 8, 2017, and 20 in-depth interviews were conducted between May 8 and June 2, 2017.

 

CONTACT:         Colleen Lerro Gallagher, +1 703-236-1133, cgallagher@gbta.org     
Marianne Varkiani, +1 703-236-1164, mvarkiani@gbta.org

 

About Sabre
Sabre Corporation is the leading technology provider to the global travel industry. Sabre’s software, data, mobile and distribution solutions are used by hundreds of airlines and thousands of hotel properties to manage critical operations, including passenger and guest reservations, revenue management, flight, network and crew management. Sabre also operates a leading global travel marketplace, which processes more than $120 billion of estimated travel spend annually by connecting travel buyers and suppliers. Headquartered in Southlake, Texas, USA, Sabre serves customers in more than 160 countries around the world.

 

About the GBTA Foundation

The GBTA Foundation is the education and research foundation of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), the world’s premier business travel and meetings trade organization headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area with operations on six continents. Collectively, GBTA’s 9,000-plus members manage more than $345 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. GBTA provides its growing network of more than 28,000 travel professionals and 125,000 active contacts with world-class education, events, research, advocacy and media. The Foundation was established in 1997 to support GBTA’s members and the industry as a whole. As the leading education and research foundation in the business travel industry, the GBTA Foundation seeks to fund initiatives to advance the business travel profession. The GBTA Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. For more information, see gbta.org and gbta.org/foundation.

 

 

 

About the GBTA Foundation
The GBTA Foundation is the education and research foundation of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), the world’s premier business travel and meetings trade organization headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area with operations on six continents. Collectively, GBTA’s 9,000-plus members manage more than $345 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. GBTA provides its growing network of more than 28,000 travel professionals and 125,000 active contacts with world-class education, events, research, advocacy and media. The Foundation was established in 1997 to support GBTA’s members and the industry as a whole. As the leading education and research foundation in the business travel industry, the GBTA Foundation seeks to fund initiatives to advance the business travel profession. The GBTA Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. For more information, see gbta.org and gbta.org/foundation.