Road Warriors Weigh In On Travel Preferences

“Grin and bear it” can often be the mantra for the die-hard business traveler.  There are plenty of opportunities to offer opinions on our favorite programs for personal use.  It isn’t often that road warriors weigh in where travel managers may actually listen.

Consulting magazine wants to know the preferences of that travel segment.  The annual “Best Places to Stay” survey opened today.  The survey helps track how consultants are making travel decisions including hotel, airline, and car rental company selection.  Data from the 2016 survey reflected the average respondent logged 100+ hotel nights in the past year.  Results from the 2017 survey will help guide firm policy and purchasing decisions.  It will also be scrutinized by travel brands hoping to attract this lucrative travel segment.

The survey will be open for responses through June 23, 2017.  Results will be reported in the August edition of Consulting magazine.

My Thoughts

I participated in the survey again this year.  It has become somewhat dated as some questions have not been updated to keep pace with mergers and corporate growth.

Some defunct carriers (US Airways and Northwest, for example) are still listed as airline choices.  Several dominant international carriers were missing from airline selections – notably Emirates, Qatar, and Cathay Pacific.   Hotel selections were missing emerging brands such as Andaz and Autograph Collection that may be popular in some urban markets.  Car rental choices should include brands such as Silvercar.

It could also be improved by retooling the motivation questions for behavioral choices/brand drivers.  Obvious airline selection drivers are missing such as schedules/timing, availability of nonstop flights, airline lounge access, and inflight WiFi availability.

Questions should also be added for airport security options such as TSA PreCheck, Clear, and Global Entry.  Airport transportation questions can be enhanced to include Uber and Lyft along with  SuperShuttle and traditional car services.  And if emerging trends are important, hotel preferences relevant to age demographics should be considered.

If you take the survey, we are curious to hear your thoughts… road warriors weigh in and sound off!

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