Eighty-one percent of travel buyers survey travelers
regularly, according to a May 7 to 17 survey by the Global Business Travel
Association and Airlines Reporting Corp. Of the 114 GBTA travel buyer members
from the U.S. and Canada surveyed, 44 percent survey their travelers about the
quality of their business trips, checking on factors like sleep and trip mishaps,
and 34 percent survey them about trip success like achieving business goals.
Seventy-one percent of travel programs use data from their HR
departments, but only 6 percent track the retention and turnover of just their frequent
travelers. Among the buyers that don't track this, 56 percent are interested in
doing so. Furthermore, 6 percent of travel programs track the retention and
turnover of all travelers. Fifty percent of those that don't are interested in
doing so.
Only 32 percent of buyers share traveler survey results with
internal stakeholders. When they do share, it's typically cost-focused metrics;
71 percent always or often share cost-focused metrics, while 24 percent share
traveler-focused metrics and 14 percent share metrics focused on trip success.
Other Findings
A majority of travel buyers agreed or strongly agreed that the
following measures would improve retention or reduce turnover at their companies:
- Seat upgrades like business class: 80 percent
- Better technology: 80 percent
- More traveler-centric policies: 77 percent
- Additional time off for frequent travel: 73
percent
- Better service from travel management companies/travel
programs: 68 percent
- Better vendors/suppliers: 63 percent
- Less strict travel policies: 53 percent
Seventy-five percent of travel buyers said their programs
have special policies for their C-suites, 41 percent have special policies for
senior management and 14 percent have special policies for frequent travelers.