Cendant Survey: Travelers Seek Advanced Booking Tech

American business travelers value integrated, online travel services, and are looking for increasingly sophisticated tools that go well beyond simple self-booking, according to a Harris Interactive survey released today by Cendant-owned agencies Orbitz for Business and Travelport.

Of the 513 business travelers responding, 56 percent said that such logistical challenges as knowing where to go upon arrival and finding a good place to eat were the most difficult to manage while on a business trip. Thirty-three percent of respondents identified remote access to travel planning technology-the ability to change, re-book and obtain travel alerts via cell phone, personal data assistant or Blackberry-as an area crucial to productivity and functionality enhancement.

“By addressing the everyday business traveler's need for practical, real-time information and capabilities in a single, highly accessible service, travel management companies can dramatically raise the relevance and user satisfaction of their offerings,” said Dean Sivley, chief product and marketing officer for Cendant Corporate Travel Solutions, in a statement. “This translates into more productivity and more use of the automated travel program and, therefore, more savings for their company.”

The survey also showed that business travelers, when seeking advanced travel technology, place significant value on effective time and cost management. Fifty-two percent of respondents said that time away from the office or the cost of travel are the most significant hurdles to making travel useful in achieving business goals, and almost one-third identified time management as the most difficult aspect of business travel. Thirty-two percent of surveyed business travelers working in managed environments said responsiveness is the service they most value in a TMC.