According to a recent estimate, about 40 million adults in the US travel on business at least one time a year to a destination about 50 miles from home. over 20 percent of the journeys made by African Americans, for example, are related to their work.
Business travel has become so common that a substantial proportion of the corporate world of the united states is spending more time in airplanes and hotels than on their couches or in their automobiles.
it is hard physically, hard on the relatives, and hard on the pockets of businesspersons who do not have the luxury of generous expense accounts to take care of their travel expenses.
Those who do not require to travel often on business consider business travel glamorous and thrilling. However, in point of fact, business travel is often arduous.
According to a study conducted recently, monitoring business travel trends:
In addition, those who travel on business regularly, quickly wise up to the fact that a stress-free and safe journey requires the smooth functioning of various interconnected factors, which includes the vagaries of the weather.
> 58 percent of business travel is undertaken for association meetings and conferences,
> 43 percent comprising of business travel made by individuals,
The study also identified a number of the most popular destinations within the US for business travel. they are:
> and 29 percent for corporate meetings.
> michigan,
> Washington, D.C.,
> Chicago,
> Los Angeles/Long Beach,
> Boston,
> Atlanta,
> Houston,
> Minneapolis-St. Paul,
> and Dallas.
> Detroit,
Business travelers, who must make frequent journeys, require special facilities to ease the hassles of travelling. Airlines and hotels are increasing the levels of services they provide in order to meet the growing demands of business travelers:
Irrespective of what the destination is, business travel is never an enjoyable experience. Some companies will permit their business travelers the chance to enjoy their travel surroundings but this is usually short lived depending on the demands of the trip.
Business travelers are usually technologically conversant; hence, select to handle all their travelling arrangements through the web, limiting the necessity of having to interact with travel agents and professionals dealing with customer service.
Usually, business travelers research fares on their own and make their reservations online. According to a survey, it was found that only 32 percent of corporate travelers used the services of travel agents for their reservation needs, while the rest, 68 percent, preferred using the web or online services to plan at least some part of their business travelling arrangements.
Most tourism related sites offer one-stop travel facilities for reservations of flights, booking rooms in hotels, and providing transportation on the ground.
Major airlines like Delta and American have included travel-friendly features like locating cheap fares, finding economical hotel accommodation, and hiring cars on a rental basis inexpensively on their sites.
Travelers, thus, can make arrangements for a whole business trip, which includes seating preferences, confirming special food requests, and a text message or e-mail verifying their flight status and information about the departure timings with a few clicks of the mouse button.
Most of these sites provide boarding passes that can be printed out and online check-ins within 24 hours of the departure of the flight.
Frequent Flyer Miles, Automatic Upgrades, and Comfortable Seating:
At the airport, those travelers in a rush can take advantage of check-in kiosks in order not to must wait in long lines, and get their boarding passes and their seating information.
One of the largest perks of travelling often on business is the facility of accumulating points, which can be exchanged for holidays. Travelers, therefore, are always on the look out for hotels offering generous points facilities.
Frequent air travelers also favor automatic upgrades and comfort inside the airplane, such as generous legroom and additional storage facilities overhead. Business traveler programs like EliteAccess provided by Continental Airlines offer comforts like guarantees of no-middle-seat and upgrades to the first class if feasible.
Getting Value for money:
Companies are constantly curtailing overhead expenses by cutting down on the travel allowances they give their executives, while business travelers look for ways in which they can maximize their allowances to the fullest.
Feeling at Home Far Away from Home:
For example, several hotels offer free breakfasts, while others provide complimentary facilities such as a welcoming snack or allowing their guests to make free long distance and local calls. plenty of hotels also offer free newspapers, tea and coffee.
Business travelers are so often away from home that they look for services that replicate their home comforts.
Although hotels are selected primarily for value and destination, but business travelers expect home-like comforts like high quality toiletries, comfortable bedding, choices in drinks, cable TV and films, broadband web access, exercise and convenient check-in/out facilities, and so on.
Quote: comcast travel, Pleasurable, Travel