Frictionless Travel Can Impact Employee
Recruitment and Retention
Time spent in transit is the most challenging aspect of business
travel, according to a new report released today by the GBTA
Foundation – the education and research arm of the Global Business
Travel Association. Layovers, changing a flight or train
reservation mid-trip, the work environment while traveling and
preparing expense reports also topped the list of most challenging
aspects for North American business travelers.
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the full release here:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171010005855/en/
Most Difficult Aspects of Business
Travel
The study, Creating a Frictionless Travel Experience – North
America, conducted in partnership with Sabre Corporation
(NASDAQ:SABR), identifies the main challenges business travelers
face during their travel experience while also looking to
understand what organizations are doing to make this experience a
better one for their travelers. The top pain points all have one
thing in common – they are time consuming. Given that 72 percent of
business travelers are middle management or higher, it is not
surprising that they are concerned about losing time or having an
adequate work environment.
“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 travelers 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 travelers 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 more than three-quarters (79 percent)
of business travelers say their business travel experience impacts
their overall job satisfaction at least somewhat. This is
especially true among Millennials (88 percent). 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.
Nearly three in five (59 percent) indicate a company’s travel
policy is an important factor when considering a potential new
employer. Additionally, the vast majority of travelers (84 percent)
say the quality of their business travel experience impacts their
business results at least somewhat.
Improving the Traveler Experience
When asked what perks or amenities impact their business travel
experience the most, convenient and comfortable hotels topped the
list for business travelers followed by non-stop flights, booking
flexibility and paid time off for long trips. Looking at optional
purchases business travelers make on their own to improve their
experience is also telling. These include hotel high-speed
internet, airplane/train Wi-Fi, seat upgrades and early boarding.
Travelers most often mention that these purchases help them improve
their productivity on the road.
Technology also makes an important contribution to business
traveler satisfaction, enabling a more efficient travel process.
Business travelers indicated a variety of technological amenities
would enhance their travel experience with automated destination
info, mobile expense reporting, itinerary management apps, safety
tracking app and mobile payment topping the list. Millennials and
Gen-Xers are far more likely than Baby Boomers to mention mobile
payment. Mobile expense reporting and safety apps also top the list
for the younger groups as well.
Around the Globe
The GBTA Foundation, in partnership with Sabre, also surveyed
business travelers in Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America. While
there are many similarities among business travelers around the
world, there are also several key differences.
For a release focused on each region, please click here: Asia
Pacific, Europe, Latin America.
More Information
The report, Creating a Frictionless Travel Experience – North
America, 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 ETAsia Pacific
– Wednesday, November 15 at 6am ETLatin 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 travelers 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.
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 US$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.
View source
version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171010005855/en/
Global Business Travel AssociationColleen Lerro
Gallagher, +1 703-236-1133cgallagher@gbta.orgorMarianne Varkiani,
+1 703-236-1164mvarkiani@gbta.org
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