A marginal rise in business travel was recorded last year with more than half of corporate travellers having outstanding travel expenses, a report out today reveals.
An average of 13.1 trips was taken per person compared to 12.7 in 2012, however the number of individuals taking one or more business trips has doubled between 2011 and 2013 from 4% to 8%.
This indicates that a greater breadth of employees across companies are making business trips.
There is a clear link between seniority within the workplace and frequency of travel trips – more than 80% of directors and managing directors made 10 or more trips in the last 12 months, according to the Amadeus poll of more than 400 business travellers in the UK and Ireland.
One in ten travellers believe that reduced travel has a negative effect on customer satisfaction or has resulted in lost business.
The study found that 52% of business travellers have outstanding travel expenses, with nearly a fifth (18%) being out of pocket by more than £100.
Men are twice as likely to be out of pocket by more than £100 compared to women.
Expenses ‘falling out of policy’ is the most common reason for not being reimbursed (56%), followed by lost receipts (14%) and not being bothered to claim back (12%).
Almost two thirds of travellers say ancillary services such as extra legroom, dietary requests and extra luggage are important to them. Ten per cent of women stated they could not do without extra luggage allowances, compared to just 1% of men.
Efficiency is also the main focus for business travellers, with 21% specifying that obtaining the closest hotel to the meeting is their top priority when travelling. The second greatest priority is connectivity, with 18% citing the ability to connect to Wi-Fi as their top travel need.
A total of 19% of travellers were either completely unaware or need to be informed before each trip on the company policy on mobile roaming for where they are going.
“The implications of this are significant for company cost control, given the high cost of calls and data roaming in some countries,” the report says.
However, respondents are positive about the impact of business travel on working life – 96% say they like business trips or do not mind travelling for business.
More than a half (55%) find business trips interesting, and women find business trips more motivating than men (21% verses 15%).
But 21% of respondents say that budget cuts make them less willing to travel and 19% state that their company travel policy has a negative impact on how they feel about their employer.
Amadeus UK and Ireland managing director Diane Bouzebiba said: “We are delighted to see the growing optimism in economic outlook translating into an increase in travel as indicated by our survey, especially given the pivotal role it plays in both employee and customer satisfaction.
“The findings shine a spotlight on the variation in traveller requirements, enabled by the proliferation of online and mobile travel management tools, variation of travel choices on offer.
“We believe that travel managers and TMCs who aim to deliver a more personalised and connected travel experience will be rewarded with greater policy compliance and efficiency gains as a result.”