New
survey results released Monday by Expedia and its Egencia corporate travel
division point to some familiar behavioral differences between younger and
older travelers. But a closer examination of the data shows those differences
aren't as pronounced—or, in some cases, apparent at all—in North America as
they are elsewhere.
Conducted
by Harris Interactive between Aug. 20 and Sept. 12, the poll collected
responses from 8,535 employed adults around the globe. Those indicating they
travel at least once a year for business included 485 respondents from North
America (comprising the United States and Canada), 1,780 from Europe and 1,739
from Asia/Pacific. In North America, the mean number of annual business trips
among respondents 18 to 30 years of age (described as "Millennials") was
six. For those aged 31 to 45, it was three, and for those 46 to 65 it was about
four. There was little variation among the age groups in terms of the length of
a typical business trip.
In
terms of spending habits, the youngest group of travelers on a global basis
indicated a higher likelihood than their older peers in most listed categories "to
spend additional money when on a business trip (company money) that you
wouldn't do on personal vacation (when spending your own money)." That
included high-end meals (for which 42 percent of 18-30 year-olds said they do),
room service (37 percent), hotel room upgrades (27 percent), checked-bag fees
(24 percent), airline class of service upgrades (22 percent), alcohol (21
percent) and limo/town car services (20 percent). The only area in which it was
not the case was for extra legroom—for which all three groups were within 13
percent to 15 percent.
By
contrast, the youngest group in North America was less likely than their older
peers (generally those between 31 and 45) to indicate they would spend company
money on business trip that they wouldn’t on personal trips for high-end meals,
hotel room upgrades, extra legroom seats, alcohol and limo/town car services.
However,
both globally and in North America, 36 percent of those in the oldest group of
travelers said they don't spend more money on any such items when traveling on
business versus leisure, as compared with 10 percent of the youngest generation
in North America and 14 percent globally.
Another
area in which North American results differed noticeably from the overall
findings was the extent to which travelers feel entitled to claim rewards
points from airlines and hotels when traveling on business. Across all global
respondents, 29 percent of Millennials said they feel "very
entitled," with that number declining to 25 percent for the middle age
group and 23 percent for the oldest business travelers. In North America, the
relationship is reversed, with 31 percent of those 18-30 saying they feel very
entitled to collect such rewards, while 37 percent of those in the middle age
group indicated as much, as did 41 percent of those 46-65.
Another
area of clear age-based variation is in extending business trips for personal
reasons. Globally, 62 percent of the youngest business travelers said they had
done so in the past year, compared with 51 percent aged 31-45 and 37 percent aged
46-65. That area also was one of the few in which the variation was greater in
North America than the across the global respondent base: 70 percent of those
18-30 said they had done so, versus 50 percent of those in the middle age group
and 31 percent in the oldest age group.
Preferences
When
asked to identify the most important criteria for booking a hotel, 53 percent
of all business travelers indicated location. It was the top factor chosen
among each of the three age groups, both in North America and globally. Price
ranked second across all age groups, with "staying in a nice or luxurious
hotel" and "preferred brand or loyalty programs for hotel"
coming in at a distant third and fourth, respectively. Among the North
Americans, travelers aged between 18 and 30 were less likely (6 percent) than
older peers to indicate as a factor "preferred brand or loyalty programs."
For
selecting business airfares, there again was little variation across age groups.
The choice of direct flights versus layovers was the top-cited factor for all
across the global respondent base, as well as for the youngest and oldest North
American travelers (it was the second-most cited among North Americans aged
31-45, trailing only price). Flight time also ranked highly among all age
subsets, with availability of inflight Wi-Fi, preferred brand or loyalty
programs and upgraded seats/extra legroom prioritized lower for all.
In
terms of booking channels, the younger crowd, perhaps not surprisingly,
indicated a higher likelihood of using smartphone and tablets than older travelers.
Here, the variation in North America—the youngest travelers were four times as
likely to book with smartphones than those 46-65 and twice as likely to do so
with a tablet—matched the level of disparity between age groups on a global
level.
But
when digging deeper, the age-based differences in North America are not as
apparent. For example, a higher proportion of those in the 31-45 age range than
among Millennials indicated they use their smartphones for trip planning (43
percent to 37 percent), sharing trip information while traveling (33 percent to
28 percent), making changes to the trip while traveling (25 percent to 22
percent) and sharing trip information after returning (33 percent to 31
percent). Trip booking was the only area for which the youngest North American
travelers were most likely to use a smartphone. Globally, however, those in the
18-30 year-old crowd were more likely than all their older peers to use
smartphones for every travel process listed.
Other Findings
Both
in North America and globally, more Millennials find travel reviews
"very" important than older travelers. They're also more likely to
post either negative or positive reviews about travel suppliers to social media
sites than older travelers.
When
asked which findings stood out most to him, Egencia senior vice president of
the Americas Mark Hollyhead noted the convergence of business and leisure
travel—60 percent of all business travelers globally indicated they had
extended business trips—and "an increasing level of comfort around data
sharing." Two in three respondents globally said they share at least some
personal data "to streamline the booking process" (with younger
travelers generally more likely than older travelers to do so). "Travelers
are happier to give data," Hollyhead said, "as long as benefits are
coming their way as far as what a supplier will do for them."