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  What Matters to Business Travelers
While on the Road?
By Dr. Cihan Cobanoglu, University of Delaware, 2002

The purpose of this study was to ascertain any differences in the needs of female and male business travelers and to ascertain the importance and satisfaction of technology needs for business travelers in selecting hotels. 4000 business travelers who were a member of American Management Association surveyed from all across the United States.

Summary of Findings and Conclusions

The average business traveler this study surveyed:

  1. stayed two nights per business trip (43.6%),
  2. took 12.81 trips or less per year,
  3. took family with them (51.5%),
  4. combined business trips with vacation (60.7%),
  5. spent $100-$150 per hotel night (42.0%),
  6. stayed in upscale hotels (52.9%),
  7. was a member of a hotel frequent guest program (62.5%),
  8. used a travel agent to book a hotel (46.44%),
  9. attended trade association meeting/convention (25.6%),
  10. had access to Internet at home or work (99.8%),
  11. had an email address (99.8%),
  12. spent 30 minutes to one hour on the Internet per day (32.8%), and
  13. purchased something on the Internet 1-4 times a year (43.8%).
The number of trips which business travelers took per year increased over the years. In a study conducted in 1994, the average number of trips male business travelers took was 11, while female business travelers took 7.4 trips (McCleary, Weaver & Lan, 1994). However, the percentage of business travelers who took family with them dropped from 75% to 51.5%. In 1996, only one percent of business travelers used the Internet to make reservations (Rowe, 1996). However, in this study almost 15% used the Internet to book a hotel room. This difference might suggest the shift in business travelers� confidence in doing business on the Internet. This finding reflected another finding of this study that 91% of the respondents purchased something on the Internet. 

Over 90% of the respondents rated cleanliness of hotel, comfortable mattress and pillows, convenience to meeting site, in-room temperature control, well-maintained furnishings, and friendly service of hotel staff important to very important in selecting a hotel. This finding was similar to previous business traveler studies conducted (Cobanoglu, Corbaci & Moreo, 2001; Lewis, 1984; Sammons et al., 1999; McGee, 1988). Over 80% of the respondents rated cleanliness of hotel, friendly service of hotel staff, well-maintained furnishings, comfortable mattress and pillows, hotel location, in-room temperature control, convenience to meeting site, non-smoking rooms, good lighting to read/work in the room, dead bolt door locks/chain locks, smoke, fire, and heat detectors, remote control TV, adequate desk/work space in room, and alarm clock as satisfactory to very satisfactory. When these two lists were compared, only cleanliness of hotel was rated satisfied to very satisfied by over 90% of the respondents. All the other attributes were rated as satisfied to very satisfied by over 80% of the respondents. It appears that hoteliers are doing a good job in satisfying the most important needs of business travelers. 

Male and female business travelers differed in importance ratings in almost half of hotel the selection attributes. Female respondents placed more importance on twenty-eight attributes than their male counterparts. These differences might be categorized as safety and security attributes (i.e. Security personnel on duty 24 hours a day, Surveillance cameras in hallways, Room numbers not on keys, Peep holes), room amenities (i.e. Name brand amenities, In-room ironing board and iron, Hair dryer, Full length mirror, Alarm clock), and gender consciousness (i.e. Women only floor, 24-hour room service) Only four attributes were perceived as more important by male respondents than female respondents: adequate desk/work space in room, complimentary national newspaper, hotel frequent travel program, and pay per view. In addition, an analysis of the grand mean of importance attributes showed that the grand mean of female respondents was statistically greater than male respondents. The grand mean of importance attributes for male respondents was 3.25 and 3.35 for female respondents (1=Not important at all, 5=Very Important). It appears that women are more demanding than men in selecting a hotel.

© 2002 Cihan Cobanoglu


 
Contact:
Dr. Cihan Cobanoglu
(302) 831 4881
[email protected]


 
Also See: Novotel Guest Survey: Men Leave Tidier Rooms, More Romantic / Jan 1999
High-Tech Rooms and Safety Top the Poll for Future Business Travellers / Jan 1998 


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