Research reveals what business travellers look for in accommodation

barefoot african american man with closed eyes relaxing in armchair with laptop in hotel room

Business travellers want different hotel experiences based on the country they are from, according to new research commissioned by RoomIt by CWT.

The survey compiled responses from 660 business travellers from nine countries to identify what influences them to choose a particular hotel during the booking process. The results revealed that globally, having access to Wi-Fi (84 per cent), room rate (81 per cent), distance from business site (81 per cent) and breakfast (79 per cent) are the most important influences.

A few of the key differences between countries were also revealed, such as business travellers from the UK and Germany are the most swayed by having access to a health club (44 per cent) and loyalty programs are the most important to those from Mexico and Germany (46 per cent).

“We continually work to understand business travellers’ specific wants and needs so we can offer the accommodations that will improve their satisfaction,” said Scott Hyden, SVP and chief experience officer of RoomIt.

“We know that you have to get the basics right in order to maximise compliance and reduce travel spend.”

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Several other notable takeaways from the results — business travellers from Germany are most likely to be persuaded by photos (56 per cent) compared to other countries while travellers from France are the least likely to experiment with new hotel brands (26 per cent).

Travellers from Mexico are less likely to use their company’s booking tools (24 per cent), compared with those from Canada (35 per cent). German travellers rely most on having someone else book their travel (41 per cent) or going offline to speak with a travel agent (40 per cent) compared to US travellers (27 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively).

Overall, business travellers are more likely to stay at upper midscale to upper upscale properties, but there are key regional differences. Travellers from India and Australia are more likely to stay in luxury properties (35 per cent and 25 per cent), while Mexico, the US and Italy travellers are more likely to stay in upper midscale properties (35 per cent, 32 per cent and 27 per cent).

Globally, when asked what attributes best describe the ideal hotel accommodation, results show that the hotel and service are stronger drivers than amenities, image or location. Quality (44 per cent), trustworthiness (38 per cent), convenience (40 per cent), quietness (30 per cent), affordability (28 per cent) and coziness (28 per cent) resonate the strongest. Regionally, quality is most important to India (63 per cent), the US (44 per cent), Canada (40 per cent), and the UK (39 per cent). France prefers coziness and quiet the most (49 per cent and 39 per cent), while Mexico ranks trustworthiness the highest (54 per cent).

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