It has been six years since
Business Travel News last took the measure of corporate travel policy compliance, service expectations and technology use, along with business travel buyer insight on policy compliance and traveler behavior, and what we have found in 2008 shows marked differences from our last and previous studies.
This study is sponsored in part by American Express Business Travel.
Download a PDF of the full study here, including all the data, charts and stories published in the print issue. Or, click on the headlines below to download individual sections.
Who Is Today's Corporate Traveler?Facing escalating airfares and substantial reductions in domestic airline capacity, frequent travelers who work for companies that manage travel today are taking fewer trips and spending fewer nights on the road than in the past, but they are following their companies' travel policies more than ever.
Travel Policy Awareness And CommunicationDespite all the tools in the toolkit that allow buyers to communicate the company's will, a divide remains between travelers' knowledge of policy and the expectations of corporate travel managers. A company can have the best policies on paper, but their utility is only as strong as travelers' awareness of them.
Traveler Compliance And Policy EnforcementCorporate travel managers increasingly are looking at everything from pre-trip approval processes to flagging noncompliant behavior at the point of sale in order to drive stricter adherence to travel policies and preferred vendors, even as the policies themselves grow more restrictive.
Service: Satisfaction And ValueA solid majority of travel buyers actively measure the satisfaction levels of their companies' travelers, viewing traveler satisfaction as a measure of their own performance as well as a tool to improve compliance with corporate travel policy.
Using Travel TechnologyWith many corporations targeting increased traveler productivity and cost savings opportunities, some travel buyers are beginning to integrate new technologies into their corporate travel program. These include using handheld devices in communications strategies, adding remote conferencing capabilities and revamping corporate travel intranets.