Young, multitasking, "digital natives" are proliferating in the workplace and may soon become--if they have not already done so--the driving force behind changes in travel management programs and policies. These Generation Y travelers (21 to 29 years old) are pushing for technological advancement and adoption within travel, and are texting, social networking and downloading mobile applications that allow them to share their opinions and their locations with the world.
"We are seeing a big technological evolution in business travel that is moving in concert with a fairly big sociological change, which is Gen Y or the millennials" changing the dynamics of the workforce, said Lisa Durocher, American Express Business Travel senior vice president of global marketing.
Compared with their Generation X and Baby Boomer counterparts, Gen Y travelers assume they will change jobs more often and are more likely to embrace technological change, according to a Marist Institute for Public Opinion March-April survey, commissioned by Marriott International, of 1,207 business travelers from the United States, United Kingdom, China and Germany. The poll defines Generation X as those between the ages of 30 and 45 and Baby Boomers as between 46 and 64 years old.
"Gen Y is highly educated: A higher percentage have completed college over any other generation. They grew up multitasking, and none of them can remember a time when technology was not pervasive in their lifestyle," said April Bridgeman, BCD Travel senior vice president of strategic marketing and technology.
[PULL_1]And as social networking and mobile applications come to the forefront of the travel industry--with suppliers rushing to create Blackberry and iPhone applications that can track, rebook and plan trips for business travelers--travel managers have to confront the issues head on.
Setting The Agenda
"Generation Y pushes [adoption] and Generation X bends to it and says, 'We want to immerse it into our corporate strategy,' " said Anthony Bartolo, Microsoft Canada Windows Phone business group partner engagement manager. "We have to play by their rules a little bit in order to have cohesiveness between the generations."
"In terms of technology, there is a bubbling-up trend as opposed to a top-down trend," agreed Bridgeman, referring to Gen Y pushing ideas up through the corporate ladder. "Once you get over that initial adoption, you do see the benefits."
In an Embassy Suites Hotels survey conducted in April, 75 percent of 300 U.S. business travelers aged 21 to 34 said they used their smartphones for browsing the Web, specifically updating social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter (48 percent) and playing games (42 percent). Also, they are "much more likely [than the 400 older travelers surveyed] to bring a variety of tech items when on business trips," including MP3 players (54 percent), portable DVD players (19 percent) and portable gaming devices (14 percent), according to the survey.
"Digital natives embrace technology much more readily because they have grown up with it," said Bartolo. "They are growing up with instant information readily available at their fingertips, whereas when I was growing up my parents told me to go to the library or read the encyclopedia."
Such technology as instant messaging and SMS already have penetrated corporate travel. Many travel agencies notify travelers of delays and changes via SMS, and travelers can chat with each other via IM about their trip plans or share tips.
"We are working on better ways to communicate with our travelers," acknowledged Eric Bailey, Microsoft travel manager. "We are shifting to more mobile messaging, including SMS. Additionally, we're building a site to share traveler experiences, which will include some destination-based social networking." In a recent Microsoft survey, 97 percent of travelers said they would be "willing to share information about their location with other travelers in the same city," similar to location-based mobile applications like Foursquare, Bailey noted.
Using Smartphone Location
Indeed, location-based and augmented-reality mobile applications may soon be a reality in corporate travel programs. Applications like Foursquare and Gowalla use the smartphone holder's location (with permission) for a social game in which users "check in" to their favorite places and share that with friends. Players can post comments about the locations, which are shared publicly. Users are awarded badges based on their check-ins, and, if they check in often to a particular location using Foursquare, they can become the "mayor." Badge collections and mayorships are publicly disclosed.
"The most appealing thing about Foursquare is that you earn badges; it is an achievement," said Bartolo. "Companies are reacting to that. Imagine the potential for incorporating that into your business? You can have a game of 'Who can save us the most money?' and 'Who can find the best deal?' And that winner wins the savings that would come."
As more travelers partake in these types of mobile device activities, some people are advocating enterprise versions of such apps to urge adherence to policy. "Everything that starts in leisure travel seems to want to trickle through, so how do we get a jump on that?" Bridgeman asked.
Travelers also are downloading augmented-reality applications that use a mobile device's camera to determine what's surrounding the user. Panning an area using the phone's camera produces pop-ups identifying restaurants, public transportation, hotels and much more. There is also the potential to use such technology to direct travelers away from dangerous areas and thus enhance duty of care.
"Think about how a corporate traveler can use an augmented-reality app, so if you are traveling internationally, you hold up the phone and it can tell you places you want to avoid and you want to go," said Mark Spoonauer, editor in chief of Laptop Magazine, speaking during the Association of Corporate Travel Executives conference in Chicago. "One popular application, Layar, can customize the content layered on the application. Just imagine how that can be applied to the business travel world. It's just a matter of time."
Better Decision Making On The Road
Microsoft plans to use mobile messaging to promote greater adherence to its travel policies and program. "As we get more information into the hands of travelers, they can make better decisions on the road. Better decisions lead to lower costs," said Bailey.
"We are intending to put in blogs" in which travelers can speak to one another, said Geoff Allwright, travel and expense manager for Airbus, speaking at the Business Travel Market conference in London. "It's not a newsletter that's printed two months ago. It's real, up-to-date information."
Embassy Suites found that 35 percent of young business travelers use a social network to find a hotel that fits their needs, and 25 percent use a social networking site "very often" before a trip, whereas 44 percent said "somewhat often." Also, 48 percent use Facebook before making business travel decisions.
According to Marist, 43 percent of U.S.-based Gen Y business travelers use social networking on their business trips, whereas 20 percent of Baby Boomers do. In the United Kingdom, the ratio is 60 percent-to-28 percent.
"As different social media sites and bits of information become more prevalent, it's almost difficult to complete a transaction without getting an opinion," said Darin Yug, partner and co-leader for transportation and travel services at Diamond Management & Technology Consultants. "Trip Advisor recently [began listing] best hotels for a business traveler. I tend to draw upon that for my business travel. What types of information are your travelers able to get through these third-party sites?" For travel managers, it's about "getting a hold of and making sure you are able to offer up that same level of information," Yug said.
"It's a way to encourage purchasing decisions by enabling [travelers] with better tools," said BCD Travel's Bridgeman. "These tools may not need to be part of a formal travel program but the travel managers' or TMCs' awareness and recommendation of those tools can be effective."
Generation Y Not
Travelers in companies that have an average employee age of roughly 28 often question travel managers and push them to use new technology, said Ralph Colunga, director of global travel and expense for Salesforce.com. "Gen Y, or what I call Y not," he said, has a "sense of entitlement. Not so much as 'you owe me this,' but 'why aren't we using the best technologies?' "
Google Inc. allowed its young, tech-savvy travelers to have a say in what innovations to incorporate into its next-generation travel program. The program encourages travelers to book travel however they choose, crediting them with dollars saved off predetermined cost caps, which travelers can use later for upgrades or other expenses above the caps. Having a program designed around choice and freedom is appealing to younger travelers, said global travel manager Michael Tangney. (To get the word out about the policies, Tangney's staff created a YouTube video.)
Tangney tells travelers: "I trust you to make that decision on behalf of Google. I am responsible to measure how you guys travel and you can't get reimbursed for what you bought unless you load it into Trips," Google's expense management tool where travelers upload their full itineraries.
Google's approach goes against the grain when it comes to travel policy and compliance. By allowing travelers to embrace competition in the open marketplace, Google allows travelers to drift from preferred suppliers if they are able to find a cheaper price. Many travel managers are concerned that this model may grant vendors greater ability to influence traveler behavior and noncompliance. Tangney's response: "Why not? [Gen Y] are very savvy travelers and when we compared their costs against everybody else's costs for trips taken, theirs was substantially better than what we set."
Travel managers who are part of Gen Y also are pushing to advance tech changes, according to Gen Y-er Sarah Callaghan, manager of corporate services and travel for Cargotec Holding Inc. Callaghan, who is working to integrate travel and expense with mobile apps, said: "The younger generation likes mobile apps and online tools; [they're] more eager to find more beneficial and efficient ways of doing things. The older generation likes the old way; calling to make reservations and doing everything manually."
[PULL_2] Gen Y's Perspective On Business Travel
Given Generation Y's adaptability to technology, many of its members see the number of business trips declining as virtual meetings technology improves. Of the U.S.-based travelers polled by Marist, 24 percent of Gen Y respondents said business trips weren't necessary with technologic advancements, compared with 13 percent of Baby Boomers. In the United Kingdom, 37 percent of Gen Y agreed, versus 18 percent of Baby Boomers. Also, 53 percent of U.S. Gen Y respondents said business travel was a necessity, as opposed to 72 percent of Baby Boomers. That ratio for U.K. travelers was 55 percent-to-77 percent.
"Today, millennials tend to be more environmentally conscious, and [telepresence] tends to be more appealing for these reasons because you are not getting on a plane, you're not increasing carbon," said Amex's Durocher. "I don't think that you are going to see a decline in transactions necessarily because of it. You're going to see people upgrade from conference calls to a telepresence environment because it is like being there without the drawback of having to get on a plane and spend personal time away."
Alas, trying to keep pace with the latest trends in technology or social networking can cause competition between the generations, causing problems for travel managers, said Bartolo.
"Gen Y has the 'new' ideas that are creating things for the future," said Cargotec's Callaghan.
"How [Gen Y] were brought up can sometimes cause friction in the workplace," said Bridgeman, "and those friction points are important for all of us to understand and try to overcome if we want to make sure that our company is working efficiently and achieving [our] goals."