Cologne, Germany – 27 December 2016
Statistical imprecision or rip-off? A study of HRS and the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) has shown that various hotels sold their Wi-Fi access to business travellers twice.
According to a recent press release, many companies pay for services, which had already been negotiated prior to stay, because travellers book them again on site. In 89 per cent of cases, Wi-Fi is already included in the negotiated room rate. According to the travel manager, more than one fifth of the travellers (22%) purchase this service again on site. „A targeted communication of the rate including features can help to fill this gap. Moreover, as suggested by HRS, “a detailed evaluation of the travellers’ needs and wishes can help to boost employee satisfaction with the respective itineraries”.
Four of five business travellers (79%) state that their travel choices are mainly influenced by the travel policies of their company. This is followed by a comfortable and easy use (71%) and the respective service costs (70%). In addition, it proves that companies often pay twice for additional, negotiated services, due to a lack in travellers’ information. A better communication between travel management and travelling employees can help to fill this gap.
Research results point out the variances in preferred communication channels within the different age groups and regions. Thus, communication via email and internet copes better with the demand of European employees but not with the demand of those in the US (desired channel email: 53% [USA] vs. 60% [Europe]; Intranet 34% vs. 51%). 55 per cent of the employees between 18 and 34, the so-called generation Y, fostered the wish for personal meetings to discuss the company’s travel policies significantly more often than their colleagues on the age of 35-54 (35%) and 55+ (33%).
This The study „Travel Policy Communication: Understanding Disconnects and Increasing Compliance“ polled 492 travellers, one half in Europe and one half in North America. They had to comply with specific guidelines and had to travel for business purposes four times a year. Free download is available at corporate.hrs.com/GBTA2016.