NO POLICY/OPTIONAL POLICY
1. Convenient flight times, hotel locations, etc. 4.00
2. Pre-trip advisories about serious issues like
severe weather & crisis situations 3.90
2. Access to reliable Internet & data connections 3.90
4. Access to travel-disruption support 3.81
4. Personal safety support 3.81
4. Ease of expense reporting 3.81
PREFERRED POLICY
1. Access to reliable Internet & data connections 4.50
2. Access to travel-disruption support 4. 40
3. Personal safety support 4. 39
4. Convenient flight times, hotel locations, etc. 4. 33
4. Ease of expense reporting 4. 33
STRONGLY ADVISED POLICY
1. Personal safety support 4.52
2. Convenient flight times, hotel locations, etc. 4.491
3. Access to reliable Internet & data connections 4.488
4. Ease of expense reporting 4.43
5. Access to travel-disruption support 4. 39
MANDATED POLICY
1. Personal safety support 4.57
2. Access to reliable Internet & data connections 4.51
3. Access to travel-disruption support 4.48
4. Convenient flight times, hotel locations, etc. 4.474
5. Ease of expense reporting 4.467
TRAVELER
HAPPINESS
INDEX
5 MOST IMPORTANT TRIP FACTORS
BASED ON THE STRENGTH OF A
TRAVELER’S CORPORATE TRAVEL POLICY
45
53
58
56
A strong travel policy, in contrast,
presents travelers with filtered but
reasonable options and in exchange
makes them feel supported and safe.
These travelers are among the Traveler
Happiness Index’s happiest.
TRAVELERS WITH LENIENT
POLICIES CRAVE GUIDANCE
Based on BTN’s survey, the less man-
aged the traveler, the more he or she
desires clarity on the travel policy. BTN
spoke to two travelers whose companies
had eliminated most of the rules around
travel. One directed travelers simply
to use good judgment, and now, “I find
Alittle bossiness may be a good thing. Consider that no group of business travelers is less happy than those who have
no travel policy or a policy in which every
decision is optional. That’s across both
genders and various age groups, levels
of international travel, trip frequencies
and travel policies. All 18 groups studied
in BTN’s Traveler Happiness survey
registered scores between 50 and
60—except those with no policies or
optional policies. And after those who
travel abroad the most, the next most
disillusioned group is those with preferred
travel policies.
TRAVEL PROGRAM
OPPORTUNITIES:
BASED ON POLICY
BY AMANDA METCALF
No Policy, No Service
HIGHEST-IMPACT
OPPORTUNITIES
Identifying the elements of the
trip experience that travelers find
most important, as BTN has done
here, is interesting. The biggest
opportunities to make an impact
on your travel program, however,
come when you weigh importance
against how well travelers think
their companies deliver. Travelers with mandated policies for
instance, rate personal safety support at 4. 6 on a five-point scale for
importance. Turn to page 34 and
you’ll see that they rate companies’ efficacy in that category at 3. 8,
leaving a gap of 0.8. That’s something travel programs could work
on. But look just a little lower on
mandated travelers’ importance
scale and you’ll find pre-trip travel
advisories about serious incidents
is rated 4. 3 while their companies’
efficacy is 3. 3. That larger, one-point gap, is a bigger opportunity.
The most important factors with
the biggest gaps between importance and delivery are your biggest opportunities. Dig around
in the charts on pages 34 to 37 to
find more.
