Mobile devices ‘revolutionising’ business travel: report
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Sabre Travel Network (STN) has released a preview of the findings of its biannual mobile survey of business travellers, which demonstrate the explosion of mobile travel services in recent years has single-handedly “consumerised” business travel. According to the Sabre’s survey, 63 percent of business travellers want to receive destination specific offers from local businesses – an 85 percent increase from 2009 – and 47 percent of business travellers use their smartphone daily to view or receive advertisements, a 95 percent increase from 2009.Tomorrow’s travellers will expect even more convenience and functionality from their mobile devices, and corporations and travel management companies must meet those needs, or risk being left behind, the company stated.”Our survey shows that business travel today is personal. Travellers want the same functionality and convenience from their business travel tools that they have in their daily lives. People use travel services on their smart phones everyday and for every trip – before, during and after they travel,” said Chris Kroeger, senior vice president of Sabre Travel Network. “The corporate travel industry needs to keep pace with the services and apps that travellers can access in their personal life and incorporate those into the world of managed business travel.”One of the biggest trends we see in the survey data is travellers’ desire for local business information and offerings based on their location via their smartphone or tablet. Smart and savvy TMCs will use technology as a way to fill this need and improve customer support and solidify customer loyalty. “Consumers increasingly want to access navigational tools and maps on their mobile devices. According to the survey, 72 percent of business travellers are interested in ability to view hotels on a map, an increase of 26 percent from 2009; 43 percent of business travellers reported daily use of their smart phone to access navigation services; and 71 percent want to receive driving directions to a specific location via their smart phone.Sabre’s survey showed that nearly three-quarters of business travellers are interested in shopping and booking air options. More than two-thirds want to shop for and make hotel reservations via mobile devices and 66 percent of respondents reported interest in the ability to add a hotel reservation to an existing itinerary. However, the highest growth was seen in the ground category. Some 62 percent of respondents are interested in booking rental cars via their smart phone, a 32 percent increase from 2009 and 60 percent of respondents want to shop for car rentals via their smartphone, a 33 percent increase.
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