What business travelers really want – corporate travel survey reveals it all
From more pocket money to a break from the routine, find out what business travelers truly want with our travel trend tracker survey results
Every day over 1.3 million people travel for business in the US. Given the popularity of business travel, we wanted to find out what corporate travelers truly want from their trips and if there’s any way to make them more comfortable.
After asking 502 corporate travelers from the US, we learned what they want from business travel. Some figures that stood out:
The business travel study showed that corporate travelers spend an average of $700 beyond their designated budgets. When asked, travelers told us the most common categories to spend money on are:
When it comes to actual figures, international business travelers spend the most at about $2000 per person, while domestic travelers only spend around $500.
Some of the facilities business travelers are most excited about are:
Meanwhile, when it comes to choosing what to look forward to when traveling for work, employees said the real head-turners are:
For international travelers, premium benefits were more appealing, while domestic travelers were more interested in their per diem allowance.
When asked to reflect on the benefits of a business trip, 42% of travelers cited career development as the main driver, while 38% were looking forward to networking or making new connections.
When it comes to international versus domestic travel, 32% of international travelers named cultural enrichment as one of the benefits compared to 14% of domestic travelers. On the other hand, 33% of domestic travelers looked forward to breaking their routine compared to 16% of international travelers.
International travelers also feel a more powerful impact than domestic travelers when it comes to:
We can also see this type of disparity in the age of business travelers, with those between 18 and 35 embracing business travel more than those older than 46. The numbers are:
For our corporate traveler study, we also wanted to learn about business travelers’ main concerns. The first three that stood out:
Other challenges associated with business travel:
According to a study from Capterra, business travelers struggle with the expense reporting process. Submitting your expenses manually can cause multiple problems, like:
According to our study, these mistakes can be avoided in the future with the help of AI, with automated expense tracking and reporting apps on the horizon.
Overall, we can see that business travelers’ main concern is monetary. From the fear of not being reimbursed to spending more on experiences and fun, corporate travelers want to combine financial security and great memories in all their trips.
However, once we separate business travelers into different categories, we can tell there’s a big difference between generations and types of travel (international and domestic).
When employees go on business trips, they want to prioritize their mental and physical health, and get some time to relax.
One thing is for sure – business trips can be a pleasant break from the routine, allowing them to enjoy all-paid dining options and networking.
From November 22 to December 4, 2023, Booking.com for Business surveyed 502 full-time (95%) and part-time (5%) professionals across the US who travel for business. Of this subset, 65% were male and 35% female, between the ages of 18 and 65. We included a representative mix of employees from various-sized companies, departments, industries, and roles within their organizations.
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