GUEST BLOG: The mobile invasion: connected travellers are productive travellers

Gone are the days when OOF - the ‘Out Of Facility’ abbreviation - meant that a co-worker was out of reach, and possibly not even working. Today, practically every business traveller brings along at least one type of mobile device to stay connected and productive. The latest Expedia/Egencia 2014 Mobile Index shows that 97 per cent of business travellers bring some sort of mobile device on a trip. In fact, more travellers bring along a mobile device than a laptop - in the UK, 64 per cent travel with a laptop, while 82 per cent won’t leave home without a smartphone.  And while nearly half bring a tablet now, this number is growing fast.

So, mobile devices are critical to business travellers, but what do they use those devices for? Not just to check email. Mobile devices have also become real travel companions:  while on the road, business travellers most commonly use smartphones and tablets to manage itineraries (37 per cent and 32 per cent) and research destinations (35 per cent and 32 per cent). They are also used to plan travel:  78 per cent have used their smartphone and 71 per cent use tablets for trip planning.*

Business travellers get more done with tablets

Tablets are more portable than laptops, but more versatile than smartphones. This makes them an especially good fit for business travellers: reading notes, preparing a presentation and working on a budget are all more comfortable on a tablet. PhoCusWright’s European Traveller Technology Study 2014 shows that tablets will be as prevalent as laptops in Europe by the end of this year and consumers prefer tablets over smartphones for planning travel. With larger screens and sleek new apps for tablets, these devices are better suited for more complex activities like planning and booking a business trip. Nearly six in 10 European travellers with multiple devices prefer to shop using a tablet, and a little over one third complete the purchase.

So get ready, travel managers. The message of the mobile invasion is clear: travellers are gaining in efficiency using mobile devices and sleek apps in their personal and professional lives; now they will also expect to achieve the same productivity with the solutions they use for business travel.

How is this working in the real world of corporate travel? Egencia UK managing director, Graham Kingsmill, will speak with experienced travel managers and procurement specialists about the challenges and rewards of providing mobile tools to business travellers at the Business Travel Show main stage panel discussion on Wednesday, February 25 from 3-4 pm.

Post by Sophie Krishnan, vice president Global Marketing and Product at Egencia. Get more information about Egencia at www.egencia.co.uk or come to the Business Travel Show Booth B#435. For more information on mobile trends see the Expedia/Egencia 2014 Mobile Index. Register for the Business Travel Show at http://businesstravelshow.com/register 

GUEST BLOG: Tips to finding a better deal on air travel in 2015

Everyone loves a deal – especially when it can mean capturing more satisfaction for business travellers in addition to cost savings. Business Travel Show exhibitor Egencia teamed up with Expedia and the Airline Reporting Corporation (ARC) to study 2015 air travel trends. Here are a few tips to help you and your business travellers get ready for takeoff.

1. Expect lower prices in 2015. Overall, slight increases in demand and larger increases in supply, combined with declining fuel prices should lead to lower prices in North America and Europe in 2015.
2. Buy tickets on Tuesday. Air-ticket price data indicates that for travel booked more than three weeks in advance of departure date, Tuesday still appears, by the slimmest of margins, to be the best day of the week to buy.
3. Consider premium class for short-hauls. Premium-class tickets are potentially more valuable on short-haul routes as the fare gap between premium and economy cabins appears to be shrinking.
4. Know your bundles and their prices. Internationally, especially in Europe, low cost carriers continue to drive prices lower, due in part to unbundling services and prompting legacy carriers to do the same.
5. Choose days to fly carefully. For long-haul flights, leaving on a Thursday and returning on a Monday, can save 20%. On short-haul flights, departing on a Saturday and returning on Tuesday can save up to 25%. And, this could provide your travellers a chance to enjoy their destination.

This post was written by Graham Kingsmill, managing director, EgenciaUK. 

Want to know more about air trends for 2015? Find more specific regional and market-by-market details in our full report: Preparing For Takeoff: Air Travel Trends 2015 or schedule time to visit Egencia at the BusinessTravel Show in Stand B435. Register now for a free visitor pass to the show at www.businesstravelshow.com. 

GUEST BLOG: The traveller manifesto: How future consumers are transforming business travel

A manifesto is a statement of belief.  As the Business Travel Show marks its 20^th anniversary, we believe that the industry is in the midst of a profound transformation.

Over the last decade, the ‘Digital Wave’ – social, ‘Always On’, multiplatform computing – has been reshaping the business landscape and empowering consumers.  It has also accelerated the blending of work and leisure travel habits and preferences.  Over the next ten years, we believe that business travel will become an inspirational experience through personalised, technology-infused services.

According to our recent Future of Travel study*, 6 out of 10 British Millennials already extend their travel into leisure trips and 79% use their Smartphone and/or Tablet for booking travel and monitoring itineraries, a number only surpassed by Norway at 83% across Europe.

As these personal and business work styles ‘blur’, the premium Millennials place on valid ‘value exchanges’ will become even more real:  UK business travellers score higher than other Europeans in willingness to store or save personal data on travel sites in exchange for incentives (discounts, loyalty points, upgrades, etc), with Norway and Spain coming in at 83% and 72% respectively.

Lastly, Millennials are communicators. They prioritize and invest in 2 way communications before, during and after their trips. Specifically, 75% of UK employees consider travel reviews to be important for business, the highest level in Europe after Spain which is at 76%.  

Looking forward, what does this mean?

The advent of social networks and proliferation of user generated content has always been about end user empowerment. In 2002, Egencia disrupted the industry by unlocking travel agent information and bringing it to the traveller.  As we look ahead, we see a corporate travel landscape that continues to be consumer-inspired, integrates global technology with advanced services and supports the mobile work force.

The ‘moments of truth’ business travellers have – making an informed reservation, the need for safety, the ability to alter and share itineraries mid-trip, will not change.  The way they experience these moments will. 

In order to deliver on this promise, TMCs must provide access to full content, itinerary flexibility and next-generation customer services.  For their part, Travel Managers can take advantage of these macrotrends to drive productivity by infusing their programs with traveller preferences, enabling multiplatform communications and maximizing the power of smartphones, tablets and PCs for their travellers.  

A manifesto is a statement of belief.

As we define the future of travel, let’s engage with our travellers by delivering empowering, integrated, and personal experiences that will make life, and  ‘life on the road’,  an inspiration.

* The Future of Travel, study co-authored by Egencia and Expedia, Inc.

Jeannette Liendo is Global Director, Marketing Communications, Egencia, an Expedia, Inc. company. During BTS, she will be leading the workshop “Blurred Lines: The Future of Business Travel” on Wednesday, Feb. 5 from 10.15 to 11.30 at the Business Hub Theatre.

GUEST BLOG: Making compliance beautiful

Business travel management aims to provide a delightful, productive, safe travel experience to employees while driving company best practices and policies, and controlling costs. Reconciling employee satisfaction and company requirements is not a new challenge, but it is becoming more relevant as travellers are inundated with new solutions and choices for planning their trips. Travellers can access these not only from their own computers but increasingly from their mobile devices as well.

Egencia and its sister company, Expedia, recently conducted a study on the Future of Travel. 

Polling showed that:

• 75% of all interviewed use a mobile device for personal or business reasons,
• 77% of business travellers use their smartphones or tablets to book travel or monitor travel itineraries. In the UK this figure rises to 79%.

Thousands of mobile travel apps are now available, and new ones are being launched every day. In this context, the winning business travel app for the future needs to both support company goals, and instantly appeal to end users in order to maximise adoption. Although features and functions may vary, there are two essential things that successful mobile business travel solutions will do:

• Integrate with the entire TMC ecosystem
  As mobile booking expands, the app will promote the company’s preferred suppliers and policy, in a way that is consistent with its online and offline booking solutions. Centrally designed rules will be instantly reflected across channels. Data on trips booked from mobile will flow into the central reporting and monitoring solutions, providing Travel Managers and CFO’s with the insight they need to drive travel programmes and ensure that duty of care requirements are met.

• Delight end-users
  UX and UI design is key, and the app will leverage the most recent insight on what makes consumer apps appealing and successful. It will provide useful, relevant and timely information, based on a deep understanding of the overall travel experience. It will be simple and alluring, acknowledging that the first visual impression heavily influences which app will be downloaded (starting from the app store catalogues) and ultimately adopted as the essential travel companion.

Today, over 80% of mobile apps are used only once after download and eventually deleted by users, because of design or functionality that fail to immediately meet their expectations. The winning business travel app will seamlessly integrate with the overall TMC solution to provide companies with the control they need, and offer the most engaging experience to end-users. Compliance can be and should be beautiful!

This blog post was written by Vinh Giang Vovan, Director of Product for Egencia Europe. With a consumer-grade interface, Egencia TripNavigator incorporates technology from the Expedia brand’s acquisition of Mobiata®, a creator of best-selling mobile travel apps, with a design that has been optimised for the more complex world of business travel.  The app provides travellers with step-by-step navigation, much like a GPS device offers driving directions, and features, among other things, access to Egencia’s robust global hotel inventory. For more insights, visit the Egencia website, or watch the Future of Travel video.

Egencia is exhibiting at The Business Travel Show - 4-5 February 2014, www.businesstravelshow.com