Reports Show Execs Expect Business Travel Cutbacks and Downgrades
The Economist Intelligence Unit and the Association of Corporate Travel Executives released a pair of reports today showing executives worldwide expect significant cutbacks in business travel frequency, duration and spending this year.
The Economist report, developed with and sponsored by Amadeus, surveyed 354 executives in November and December to gauge the impact of the global economic downturn on their travel plans. Nearly half of the executives surveyed said they were planning fewer trips during the next 12 months, and 16 percent of the executives said they would cut back the number of trips by 30 percent or more. Only 11 percent said they expected to take more business trips this year.
The length of those trips also is decreasing, according to the report. For example, 11 percent of executives said one-night stays were the par for their business trips in 2008, and 16 percent said one night would be the average length of stay per business trip in 2009.
More than one-quarter of executives said they expected to be required to shift down from upper tier properties in their stays as well, ushering in a period of what Antoine Medawar, managing directory of Amadeus' hospitality business group, called "visible austerity."
"Travel for business is going to be shorter and cheaper," Medawar said. "Business travelers are very open to downgrading from four- and five-star properties."
As business travelers downgrade hotels, their biggest amenity demand is Internet connectivity, according to the report. About three-quarters of executives said lack of Internet connectivity would prevent them from staying at a hotel, ranked as a deciding factor well above a quiet room, 56 percent, and a centralized location, 52 percent.
Similarly, an ACTE survey of 176 travel buyers showed that 71 percent of respondents plan to spend less on travel in 2009. Only 8 percent planned to spend more on travel, and 21 percent said travel spending would be flat compared with 2008.
Additionally, 61 percent of respondents in the ACTE survey said they have approached vendors to renegotiate contracts. The vast majority has focused on hotels, and respondents said the hotel industry has been the most responsive to renegotiations.