When you’ve got a time and place to be, avoiding interruption and travelling in comfort are essentials.
We asked 500 business travel decision-makers to say what they look for in business travel, and the results are in.
The number one requirement was flexibility and the ability to seek exchanges or refunds if plans change.
It received a net importance score of 93%, with 6% of respondents saying it’s not very important and only 1% seeing flexibility as not important at all.
Comfort, speed and price scored highly among those surveyed in France and Italy, as well as factors related to the ability to work onboard, including WiFi, charging ports and space.
In the bottom three, food and drink was a surprise inclusion with 34% of people looking past their bellies when arranging work travel.
The second least important consideration proved to be carbon emissions. It had a similar net unimportance score, with 36% saying it’s not an important factor, and 63% viewing it as important.
This is not to say that companies are downplaying the merits of sustainable travel.
But when stacked up against topics that provide immediate benefit to the individual employee, such as cheap tickets or a plug for their laptop, it’s understandable that carbon emissions fare poorly.
Propping up the list, as the only issue with more unimportant than important ratings, was first class seating.
It was considered very important for one in eight (13%) of business travel decision-makers, and 27% said it's important.
First class is a more popular option for workers than leisure travellers, but it appears that for most it falls into the luxury category, whereas flexibility and being in control of your journey is a prerequisite.
About the survey:
Carried out by Savanta in April and May 2022. It asked 512 decision makers with responsibility over managing business travel split across respondents from France (255) and Italy (257). Respondents in each market were split evenly by business size.