Business travelers and Millennials were once again top of the agenda in travel research from around the industry this week.
Business Travelers Can Save 28 Percent When Booking in Advance
Travel Leaders Corporate released its business travel clients’ aggregated third quarter booking data for 2015.
Business travelers continued the trend of booking their trips with less than a week’s notice, even though they could have potentially saved an average of 28 percent if trips were booked at least two weeks in advance. Additional business travel client data reveals the average domestic trip length rose for the fourth consecutive quarter, demonstrating the continued strength of the business travel market. Hotel rates also continued their climb, while the year-over-year base rate for airline tickets and rental cars continued to decline.
“Our business travel clients continue to take more frequent and longer trips, demonstrating how robust the business travel market remains,” said David Holyoke, president of Travel Leaders Corporate. “For the fourth quarter in a row, average domestic trip lengths continued to increase. We’re seeing a confidence among our clients of all sizes.”
“Another trend we’re seeing among our clients is the continued pattern of booking air travel with little advanced notice,” Holyoke continued. “Business trips booked less than a week from the date of travel made up 27 percent of all airline tickets booked, even though the average ticket price was $523 in that window, compared to $373 with three weeks or more notice. Businesses are confident about their economic prospects, so flexibility is more of a deciding factor than price.”
51.5 Percent of Travel Agents See Growth in Millennial Clients
In other news, Millennial travelers were once again in the spotlight thanks to a survey by L.E. Hotels that showed that more Millennial travelers are looking to book with a travel advisor. Of survey respondents, 51.5 percent reported they saw a growth in Millennial clients.
Other key findings:
84 percent of the travel agents surveyed predicted that the industry would continue to see higher demand for hotel rooms and increased prices in 2016.
Over the past year, 60 percent of respondents saw an increase in bookings, 35.9 percent saw no dramatic change in bookings, and 3.9 percent saw a decrease in bookings, respectively.
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