Royal Coachman’s Business Travel Trends in 2013
Half of travelers have saved their company money on air fares by booking at least 14 days in advance, says Orbitz in their analysis of business travel for the first quarter of 2013. The other key headline is that the vast majority (98%) of hotel bookings are for less than $165 per night.
Royal Coachman Worldwide offers ground transportation solutions, including Newark airport ground transportation, in the New York, New Jersey Metropolitan area and worldwide. As part of our pledge for providing exceptional service to our customers, we closely watch travel trends, to better keep you informed of potential savings of time and money. This post discusses all the trends we’ve noticed in the first quarter of this year.
Pricing trends
Companies have been trying to enforce corporate travel policies as part of a more general adaptation to the current economic climate. There has been an overall drop of 2.9 percentage points in the average price of air tickets compared to Q1 2012 for business travelers. It should be noted that the industry overall has been trying to force down ticket prices — International travel has shown a 15.9% drop in the same period.
The drop in the price of business travel air tickets can partially be attributed to not only the larger trend forcing prices down, but also a result of earlier bookings — 32% of which occur more than 21 days in advance: this costs an average of $182.88. When bookings are made at the last minute, they cost upwards of $100 more (4–6 days; average $281.46, and 0–3 days; $299.04).
We believe that the trend for earlier bookings will continue for the rest of 2013.
Going Mobile
Increased mobile usage for travel and related booking was another growth area in the first quarter of 2013. Overall there has been a 67% increase in the use of the Orbitz business mobile tool in Q1 2013 compared with the same period a year ago. There was a significant growth of 89 percentage points for airline bookings using mobile internet tools in this time period and a 46 point increase for hotel bookings.
This is perhaps part of a bigger trend for mobile usage in the industry, which started with travel management — check in and flight tracking — and is now increasingly being used for search and purchase of air travel and hotel bookings.
Royal Coachman Worldwide has a free mobile app for all your ground transportation needs, both on iTunes (click here for the iTunes app) and in the Android marketplace (click here for the android app). The Royal Coachman app enables you to book reservations, check on reservations and more, all at the ease of your finger on your smartphone.
Hotel Trends
The average cost of nightly hotel accommodation booked by business travelers using Orbitz in the first quarter of 2013 was $162.95. The vast majority (86%) of these bookings were in the upper-scales category of rooms. Interestingly, only 2% of travelers opted for either luxury or economy class rooms.
One constant trend that will continue to demonstrate the best ROI with your travel experience is by using Royal Coachman for your ground transportation and limousine service needs. We offer door-to-door services in the New Jersey, New York metropolitan area and worldwide.
About Royal Coachman
Royal Coachman is a limousine service that is ranked within the top 50 in the U.S. Operating in the New Jersey, New York Metro area and worldwide, we offer solutions for all your corporate and group needs. Whether it’s NJ shuttle service or an affordable limousine in NJ, call us today at 800–472–7433.
Originally published at Royal Coachman.
