9 Key Findings from BTN’s 2016 Corporate Travel 100

Every year, BTN surveys the biggest spenders in the corporate travel industry and profiles them in the annual BTN Corporate Travel 100 issue. Looking at the information BTN collected in 2016 in aggregate reveals trends that will come in handy when setting travel management priorities for 2017.

1. Cushier Seats
   16 percent expected to have loosened their business class policies during the course of 2016. That may not sound like a lot, but this is the first time since BTN began CT 100 research that more companies expected to loosen this policy rather than tighten it. Just 12 percent said business class policy would get more restrictive; 72 percent said it would remain unchanged.
   
   
2. Better Pricing Agreements
   Three-quarters indicated that the airline pricing agreements they had at the time they were surveyed were more favorable than their previous contracts. More than half said the same of travel management company contracts.
   
   
3. Pricing Is Down, but So Are Discounts
   Average U.S. coach ticket prices are the lowest they have been in five years, but the average U.S. Coach Net Effective Airfare Discount (savings as a percentage of the published spend) has declined from 24 percent to 14 percent in the past 10 years.
   
   
4. Hotels Negotiations Are a Mixed Bag
   More than one-third reported that their hotel agreements had become less favorable. At the same time, nearly 30 percent said their hotel agreements had become more favorable.
   
   
5. Dynamic Pricing Is on the Upswing
   Just over half refuse to adopt dynamic pricing, but that’s down from 80 percent in 2011.
   
   
6. Midprice & Upscale Gained Fans
   Half used more midprice hotels to manage costs in 2016, and one-third increased their use of upscale hotels.
   
   
7. Pre-Trip Approval Is On the Rise
   Between 2009 and 2015, use of pre-trip approval fell from 50 percent of CT 100 companies to 40 percent. In 2016, use of pre-trip approval crept back to 48 percent.
   
   
8. Global Policy Makers
   Nearly two-thirds have a single global travel policy.
   
   
9. Uber Tops New Ops
   40 percent allow use of a taxi distribution service like Uber or Lyft. That's more companies than are exploring other new travel management opportunities like open booking, alternative lodging, mobile payment and virtual cards.