With this week marking the release of new data indicating that more than half of Americans are set to travel no matter their outlook on the economy, signs continued looking good for the industry.
53 Percent Say Economy Has No Impact on Travel Plans
According to a Harris Poll released this week, more than half of Americans say their outlook on the U.S. economy has no impact on their likelihood to travel this summer – an overall 13 percent improvement from when this question was first asked six years ago.
Nearly seven in ten Americans (68%) have at least one leisure trip planned for summer 2015 (May through August), a slight increase from the 66 percent who planned one last year and an overall steady growth rate since the six in ten (60%) who planned a trip three years ago for summer 2012.
Twenty seven percent still say they're less likely to travel this summer due to their outlook on the U.S. economy, but that percentage continues to decrease year over year.
These are among the findings from a Harris Poll of 2,215 U.S. adults (aged 18 and older) surveyed online from April 16-20, 2015.
Marriott Tops Hotel Wi-Fi in U.S.
In hotel news, Hotel WiFi test released a new report that ranks hotel chains by Wi-Fi quality. Two characteristics of hotel Wi-Fi are considered: the quality of the Wi-Fi and whether in-room Wi-Fi is free.
The report contains a global ranking and separate rankings for the United States, Europe and Asia.
The chain to which a hotel belongs is one of the best predictors of Wi-Fi performance. Therefore, when travelers know how hotel chains are ranked overall, they can choose a specific hotel with better Wi-Fi even if they don't have information about the Wi-Fi quality in that hotel.
In this report, a hotel judged as having adequate Wi-Fi must provide an expected download speed of at least 3 Mbps (the Netflix recommendation for SD-quality streaming) and an upload speed of 500 kbps (the Skype recommendation for high-quality non-HD video calling). The Free Wi-Fi percentage is calculated as a ratio of hotels that offer free in-room Wi-Fi to all hotels for which the Wi-Fi price structure and availability is known.
28 Percent of Workers Cite Gossip as Top Work Etiquette Breach
Finally, the week closed out with new findings on office etiquette pointing to a divide between the way workers and managers view bad behavior. According to a survey from Accountemps, the most common civility culprit cited by chief financial officers (CFOs) is being distracted during meetings (27 percent). Workers, on the other hand, pointed to gossiping about colleagues (28 percent) as the most prevalent breach of workplace etiquette.
CFOs and workers were asked, "Which one of the following is the most common breach of workplace etiquette committed by your staff/coworkers?"
The surveys were developed by Accountemps, a temporary accounting, finance and bookkeeping professionals, and conducted by an independent research firm. They include responses from more than 2,100 CFOs from a stratified random sample of companies in more than 20 of the largest U.S. metropolitan areas and more than 320 employees age 18 and older who work in an office environment.
"The results show managers might not have a full understanding of how widespread gossip is at work," said Bill Driscoll, a district president of Accountemps. "Likewise, workers may not be aware that their bosses notice distracted behavior during meetings."
Driscoll added, "Most jobs today require teamwork and strong collaboration skills, and that means following the unwritten rules of office protocol. Poor workplace etiquette demonstrates a lack of consideration for coworkers."
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