Most Business Travelers Satisfied with Trip Experience

Dissatisfied Travelers Identify Opportunities to Help Meet Business Goals on the Road Nearly Half of Companies Worldwide Have Policies to Allow Employees to Use Ride-Sharing Services for Work Travel Composite Index Component Scores Improved for Business Travelers from Mexico, Germany and U.S.

Alexandria, VA (June 23, 2016) – Most business travelers remain upbeat about work trips with 73 percent satisfied with their overall business trip experience over the past three months, compared to 71 percent in 2015, according to the GBTA Business Traveler Sentiment Index™ Global Report, in partnership with American Express. The Index is a data-centered barometer based on business travelers’ attitudes toward seven key components of business-related travel. It examines how business travelers feel about their travel experience and how those feelings affect their actual behaviors related to travel.

The latest research shows that more than three-quarters (77 percent) of business travelers say they are able to meet their goals on work trips, and those who feel dissatisfied or neutral about meeting their business goals report the following will help: improved Wi-Fi access (46 percent), clearer objectives (42 percent), more time with clients (40 percent) and a larger budget to extend the trip (37 percent).

When it comes to productivity, just over half (51 percent) of business travelers prefer to spend flights doing something other than work. This is especially true in Japan (61 percent) and Australia (60 percent) and for Baby Boomers (those ages 55+, 57 percent). Employees who want to work inflight say lack of in-seat power outlets is the biggest hindrance to inflight productivity: 72 percent say too few outlets contribute at least some to their inability to get work done, followed by seat-size (68 percent), tray table size (67 percent) and lack of adequate USB outlets (65 percent).

“Business travel is the industry that drives all others, making it essential that companies equip their travelers with clear objectives and tools for success,” said Michael W. McCormick, GBTA Executive Director and COO. “In an era of consolidation and record profits among travel suppliers, it is also imperative that they reinvest in the customer experience – innovative new products from all travel suppliers can lead to increased productivity for business travelers on the road, helping to drive continued business growth.”

Company Travel Policies Are Evolving
Across the globe, some companies have travel policies that allow employees to use ride-sharing (44 percent) or home-sharing (28 percent) services when they travel for work. However, these services are still so new that more than one in five travelers aren’t sure if the options are covered by their companies’ policies. Companies in some countries are more open to sharing economy options than others, with 79 percent of business travelers in Mexico and 61 percent in the United States able to use ride-sharing services and 42 percent of Hong Kong-based business travelers free to use home-sharing services. Millennials are more likely than business travelers of other age groups to have used ride- or home-sharing services on work trips taken in the previous three months.

In addition, fewer business travelers in 2016 reported being required to follow a company travel policy, 44 percent compared to 52 percent in 2015. A majority of travelers who are required to follow a travel policy or guidelines are satisfied with the ease of understanding travel policies (61 percent), flexibility in planning (60 percent) and changing their itinerary as needed (58 percent).

“Flexibility continues to be a major priority for business travelers—whether it’s the flexibility to choose which business technology will best serve their needs on the road or the travel itinerary that will best meet their business objectives,” said Susan Chapman-Hughes, Senior Vice President, American Express Global Commercial Payments. “Companies should consider how their policies can strike the right balance of providing guidelines for employees while empowering them with an appropriate level of flexibility.”

Social Media Keeps More Travelers Connected on the Road
Compared to last year, more employees say using social media helps their ability to connect with work contacts, colleagues and friends when on the road, with Millennials leading the way. During work trips, 61 percent of Millennials and 50 percent of all business travelers use social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Xing or Mixi once or more per day for work-related purposes.

An increase in business travelers’ adoption of social media helped boost the Social Media Experience component scores in 2016 over 2015 for a majority of the countries surveyed, including Australia, Germany, Mexico and the United States.

When it comes to mobile devices, in general, 72 percent of Millennials and 64 percent of all business travelers use mobile devices to check travel itineraries one or more times a day during trips, and 55 percent of Millennials and 44 percent of all business travelers use them to check their expenses at least once a day while on the road.

Index Scores & Country Highlights
Composite GBTA Business Traveler Sentiment Index™ component scores improved in 2016 over last year for business travelers from Mexico, Germany and the United States. Scores declined for Canadian travelers and remained approximately the same for travelers from Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom. Find topline highlights for each country below.

Australia: Australian business travelers are generally positive about business travel experiences, with 79 percent satisfied with work trips taken in the past three months and 81 percent confident they met all work-related goals on the trips. They are some of the least satisfied with access to reliable Wi-Fi when they’re on the road, be it on airplanes, trains or hotel rooms.

Canada: In 2016, Canada had the lowest composite Index score of all countries surveyed, dropping nearly 10 points from 2015. That drop could reflect business travelers’ attitudes toward Canadian companies’ slow adoption of new travel technologies, such as the ability to submit expenses electronically.

Germany: German business travelers spend more time on the road than in any other country surveyed, averaging five trips in the past three months and 14 in the past year.

Hong Kong: Business travelers from Hong Kong are among the least satisfied compared to other business travelers. Only 51 percent are happy with their overall travel experience, well under the 73 percent average for all business travelers.

Japan: Japanese business travelers are among the least likely to be satisfied with almost every aspect of the experience, including various elements of travel, company travel policies, feeling safe and options for expense reports.

Mexico: Every Index component score for business travelers in Mexico improved this year over last year, giving it the highest composite score of the eight countries surveyed. Mexicans are on the cutting edge of travel technology on multiple fronts including usage of electronic receipts, mobile wallets for payments and social media.

United Kingdom: Travelers in the U.K. are more satisfied with some aspects of work trips than others, such as meeting their business goals (78 percent) and their overall trip experiences (70 percent), but expressed the least optimism about the health of the overall economy.

United States: U.S. employees are enthusiastic business travelers. Given the choice, 92 percent say they would travel the same amount or more in the future.

The GBTA Business Traveler Sentiment Index™ Global Report – June 2016, in partnership with American Express, is available on the GBTA or American Express websites.

Survey Methodology
Between March 31 and April 13, 2016, the GBTA Foundation conducted an online survey of 3,500 business travelers whose primary residences are located in Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States, who are employed part- or full-time, and who have taken at least four business trips in the prior 12 months.

About the Index
The GBTA Business Traveler Sentiment Index™, in partnership with American Express, is a proprietary, data-centered barometer based on business travelers’ attitudes toward seven key components of business-related travel. The Index Components, in order of impact on the overall GBTA Business Traveler Sentiment Index™, in partnership with American Express include:

• Overall Trip Experience and Travel Friction – Attitudes toward air travel, hotel stays and ground transportation
• Expense Tracking and Management – Satisfaction with business travel expense management and tracking, and using credit or charge cards for business travel
• Travel Management Policy Friction – Attitudes toward company travel policy management, flexibility and comprehension
• Business Travel Safety – Attitudes toward travel safety and to what extent employers, travel suppliers and security officials care about travelers’ safety
• Corporate/Macroeconomic Environment – Feelings about the health of the economy, companies travelers work for and their industries
• Technology for Business Travel – Opinions about technology’s impact on business travel
• Social Media Experience – Attitudes toward using social media while traveling for work, including finding or posting reviews of travel suppliers

CONTACT: Colleen Gallagher, +1 703-236-1133, cgallagher@gbta.org

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.