Among the findings, the survey reports 17 per cent of business travellers plan to travel more for business this fall, compared to the fall of 2010; 51 per cent of business travellers most often use a car when travelling for business, followed by 36 per cent who most often use a plane; 80 per cent of business travellers expect high-speed Internet to be included in their hotel’s advertised room rate; 74 per cent of business travellers expect parking to be included in a hotel’s advertised room rate and 65 per cent expect breakfast to be included.
“Despite uncertainly on Wall Street, we expect to see a growing number of business travellers back on the road this fall as advance bookings at our hotels are up eight per cent this fall over last,” said Dorothy Dowling, senior vice-president of Marketing and Sales for Best Western International.
Dowling added: “Guests and business travellers are growing tired of surprises at check out, and we’re seeing that pricing transparency is growing in importance. All of our properties offer free high-speed Internet as we know our loyal business guests appreciate it and, rightfully so, have come to expect it.”
A survey also found that of those travellers who use loyalty programs, 38 per cent use hotel-based loyalty programs, while 34 per cent use airline-based programs.
