PRE-TRIP
Traveler understands purpose of trip
Policy clarity
Choice & quality of suppliers
Access to premium flight cabins, lodging, etc., when needed
Timely & accurate alerts for traffic, weather, flight status, etc.
Advisories about serious issues like severe weather & crisis situations
ON-TRIP
Access to travel-disruption support
Personal safety support
Empowerment to make travel spending decisions
Empowerment to attend to health & wellness
Access to reliable Internet & data connections
Personal acknowledgement by suppliers
Notification of benefits that come with loyalty status or corporate contract with supplier
Tools & memberships that allow traveler to skip lines
POST-TRIP
Opportunity to provide feedback about quality of trip & suppliers
Ease of expense reporting
Feeling of support for traveler’s well-being & productivity
4.1
4. 2
4. 3
3. 6
4
3. 3
4
4. 2
3. 2
4. 4
3. 9
4
4. 2
4. 4
4. 5
4. 5
4. 3
4. 2
3.1
4. 5
3
3. 7
4
3. 9
3. 7
3. 6
3. 5
3. 5
2. 9
3. 4
3. 4
3.1
3. 5
3.1
2.8
3. 3
3. 7
3.8
3. 6
3. 6
3. 3
2.8
3. 6
3.1
3
2. 9
HOW HAPPY ARE TRAVELERS IN 2017?
BTN SURVE YED 844 BUSINESS TRAVELERS AND WEIGHED HOW IMPOR TANT THE Y DEEM
23 TRIP FAC TORS ON A SCALE OF 1 (BAD) TO 5 (GOOD) AGAINS T HO W WELL THE Y THINK
THEIR COMPANIES DELIVER ON THOSE FAC TORS.
EFFEC TIVENESS
OF TRAVELER’S
COMPANY IMPORTANCE
TOTRAVE
LER
2017 TOTAL TRAVELER
HAPPINESS INDEX
(OUT OF 100) 57
not with the types of suppliers their
travelers were interested in. And it
wasnt that they wanted luxury; they
weren’t expecting Four Seasons or
Ritz-Carlton. They just wanted things
like convenient locations to their
meetings and onsite gyms. So progress wasn’t about spending more, it
was about understanding more.”
THE TRAVELER
HAPPINESS INDEX
In May, BTN launched an online
survey tool to help travel manag-
ers listen to the voice of the
traveler. An extension of the 2016
Traveler Happiness Index that
BTN fielded to a list of qualified
business travelers, the tool al-
lowed BTN to target the managed
travel segment more specifically.
Each qualified travel manager
registered for a customized link to
the online survey that allows his
or her business travelers to rate
the importance of 23 “trip factors”
along the pre-trip, on-trip, post-
trip lifecycle to discover what that
travel population cares about most.
Further, the survey asks travelers
to rate their companies on the “ef-
fective delivery” of each trip factor,
giving travel managers insight not
only into what is important but also
into delivery gaps that need to be
addressed the most.
Ultimately, each participating
company is assigned a Traveler Happi-
ness Index score on a scale of 1 to 100,
based on all survey respondents from
that company. An index of 50 indicates
“neutral” satisfaction. Each participat-
ing travel manager accessed his or
her own confidential survey results
through the tool. The tool remains
available and the survey is ongoing,
and BTN used total results from all par-
ticipating companies as of Sept. 15 to
offer a snapshot of managed traveler
happiness overall in this issue.
Having aggregated the ratings of
all participants in the 2017 Traveler
Happiness survey, BTN found that
managed travelers pegged their hap-
piness at 57 on the index. This shows
8 BUSINESS TRAVEL NE WS www.businesstravelnews.com
VOICE TRAVELER OF THE
METHODOLOGY & INTERPRETING THE INDEX
Business Travel News launched its online Traveler Happiness Index survey on May 23 , 2017, and
collected data from 844 travelers representing 33 companies through Sept. 15. The survey remains
active at www.businesstravelnews.com/thi/survey-link-request.
The Traveler Happiness Index measures managed traveler satisfaction wth their companies’
travel programs. It shows the most important factors along the lifecycle of a business trip from
travelers’ point of view. It also shows travelers’ perception of how effective the managed program
is in delivering on these factors. Using a formula weighted on the importance of each trip factor,
the Traveler Happiness Index produces a score on a scale of 1 to 100, in which 50 is neutral. This
year’s total score of 57 reflects an industry that has focused on travel management necessities but
has not put the policies, processes and technologies in place to achieve traveler satisfaction or
meet growing expectations for relevance, convenience and productivity.
Key areas in need of improvement: booking tools, pre-trip notifications of serious travel advisories, convenient flight times and hotel locations, health and wellness support, reliable Internet
access, expense processes and comp time for business travel spanning holidays and weekends.
