5 key requirements for happy business travellers.
There’s nothing more satisfying than ticking off the last item on a checklist – particularly when that checklist relates to business travel.
Any form of travel – be it for business or pleasure – relies on a significant number of constituent elements if it is to be successful. There’s the documentation you’ll need at the airport, the hotel details, foreign currency and lest we forget the passport. Neglect just one of those items and your trip could be ruined.However, for the modern business traveller, it doesn’t stop there, because there’s another checklist to take note of whose purpose is equally tied to a successful trip. It’s a checklist that has evolved over the years and which now looks markedly different from its ancestors.
We’re of course referring to the traveller needs checklist, which is designed to leave every business traveller satisfied that relies. In years gone by, it included the absolute basics; a timely flight, adequate hotel and an expense account that allowed for just enough subsistence without any frivolity.
The modern business traveller checklist is thankfully more dynamic and consists of just five requirements:
1. Freedom
Travellers are now inclined to unleash their inner consumer when booking business trips. That means reaching for their smartphone in order to find a hotel that will make them feel at home and provide easy access to local attractions (should they wish to extend their stay, of course).
Being constrained by the rules and regulations of traditional travel policies frustrates the modern business traveller. And this is for a very good reason: they often know of a far more cost-effective route.
2. Open booking
Business travellers often know the best hotel at which to stay and the most reasonably-priced restaurants nearby. If they’re forced to abide by rules that dictate specific locations and hotel brands, the optimal trip is unlikely to be booked.
If you’re still unconvinced, research by PhoCusWright discovered that 43% of US travellers will happily step outside of their company’s bookings channel if they can find a more convenient way. And why shouldn’t they?
There are a number of reasons business travellers want to book outside of the policy, but they usually relate to nothing more than convenience and a desire to travel efficiently.
3. 3) Connectivity
We’re rapidly reaching an age where the internet is ever-present. It’s simply ‘there’, all of the time, no matter if we’re at home, at work or walking the dog through a remote, muddy field.
As a result, business travellers treat fast internet connectivity as a commodity. It’s an intrinsic part of life, and therefore being hampered by poor Wi-Fi is akin to the hotel shower running out of hot water.
Thankfully, speedy internet connections are now available at practically every stage of the travel experience (even if you’re forty-thousand feet above the ground), but any that demand pricey hourly connection fees are to be avoided.
4. BYOD acceptance
The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) culture has given many an IT manager multiple headaches, but the desire people have to bring their own smartphones, tablets and laptops into the workplace shows no sign of abating and is just as prevalent in business travel.
Those tasked with heading to foreign shores to meet customers and attend conferences need to be empowered to use their own devices to book travel arrangements. If they’ve installed the Booking.com hotel reservation app on their smartphone, why not give them full, unrestricted access to use it for work purposes if doing so speeds up the process and ensures a cost-effective booking?
With technology moving so fast, few travel policies can keep up. If there’s a better way to book a business trip, the likelihood is the traveller has the enabling device to hand.
5. Minimal red tape
Business travel shouldn’t be hampered by policy and process. Navigating through endless red tape isn’t enjoyable for anyone, and if travel policies can be looked at from a different angle or regarded more as guidelines than hard-and-fast rules, the modern traveller can continue unabated with a better, faster way of booking.
Don’t embark on business travel without this checklist. It’ll ensure a cost-effective trip and will leave both you and the business for which you work completely satisfied.