Women in business travel · 5 Special report: Women in business travel 21.94% said that women were...

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Special report:Women in business travel

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Table of contents

Introduction 4

Executive summary 6

Women in business 8

Women in travel 9

Attitudes towards business travel 10

Frequency of travel 12

Travel mode 16

Airports 18

First class 20

Airline choice 23

Seats and baggage 25

Hotels 27

What makes a good hotel? 29

Hotel facilities 31

Hotel alternatives 34

Extending stays 35

Conclusions 36

Survey demographics 37

Sources 39

Acknowledgements 39

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Special report: Women in business travel

fcm.travel

Introduction

In an age when gender diversity is a red-hot topic, are corporate travel programmes conditioned to treat their male and female travellers the same or is the trend towards personalisation and the cost of talent retention forcing travel managers to consider whether a more tailored approach is beneficial.In 2016, research amongst female travel buyers and their travellers found that, the main, travellers were treated equably. Only 21.94% said that women were treated less well than the men but 70.02% believed that travel suppliers should try harder to address the needs of female business travellers1. The same research suggested a dis-engagement with travel policy. 77% felt policy should take account of female travellers’ specific needs.

Two years on, have things changed? Are travel programmes treating male and female travellers any differently and, if not, are travel managers missing a trick?

During the summer of 2018, FCM carried out its first Big Business Travel Survey amongst its business travel clients. 798 travellers responded. Their roles and backgrounds were varied; from senior management to sales, administration and support staff. The survey set out to find out and compare the attitudes towards business travel amongst male and female travellers. This report sets out the results.

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21.94%said that women were treated less well than the men.

2016 SURVEY:

77%felt policy should take account of female travellers’ specific needs.

70.02%believed that travel suppliers should try harder to address the needs of female business travellers.

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1. Most business travellers like to travel -women even more than men.

2. Although the value of business travel lies in face-to-face interaction and

meeting colleagues, over half of travellers enjoy the sheer experience of travel and exposure to different cultures. Women travel more for internal meetings than for meeting clients.

3. The biggest drawbacks of business travel are time spent away from the

family, and a dislike of travelling alone. Women find business travel particularly disruptive to their work.

4. Almost half (49%) of the surveyed travellers make less than ten trips

a year; a third make between ten and twenty trips and a fifth make more than twenty trips a year. Most business trips take travellers away for two nights.

Executive summary

49%of travellers make less than 10 trips a year.

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50%Half of business travellers prefer window seats - especially women.

31.1%of women make less than ten trips a year.

5. Whilst women make more overnight stays than men, more men stay away

for longer. 31.1% of women make less than ten trips a year, compared to 18% of men. Overall men are travelling slightly more than women, although women attend more events and conferences.

6. Air travel accounts for 71.4% of business trips, rail for 26.6% and car

rental for 23.7%. More women travel by train than men with the opposite applying to self-drive.

7. A third of business travellers drive to the airport, marginally more than

those who take taxis. Men are more likely to drive to the airport.

8. Business travellers do not rate airport facilities highly. 43.5% of

travellers never use an airport lounge, whilst under half of female travellers never use airport showers.

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9. Most travellers fly economy on both short and long-haul flights, with

premium economy most frequently flown for 10.7% of short-haul and 25.5% of long-haul. In business class, 13.5% of men turn left on the plane, compared to 9.7% of women.

10. British Airways is the airline of choice for male and female

travellers, followed by Emirates and Virgin Atlantic, based on service, loyalty rewards and routing.

11. Loyalty schemes appeal more to men than women although 70%

of female travellers belong to an airline loyalty programme compared to 37.2% of men.

12. Half of business travellers prefer window seats - especially women.

48.3% of travellers have up-graded their seats to get extra leg-room.

48.3%of travellers have up-graded their seats to get extra leg-room.

9.7%of female travellers turn left on the plane.

67.2%of travellers can choose where they stay.

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13. Women hate wasting time at airports waiting and queuing,

whereas delays and cancellations frustrate male travellers most.

14. Duty of care is not gender-specific. Most business travellers

reach their hotels or meetings by official taxi or pre-arranged transfer.

15. Travellers have plenty of freedom to choose their hotels. 67.2%

can choose where they stay within company policy, whilst 26.3% have total freedom of choice.

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16. Most prefer to stay near their meeting or office but make hotel

choices based on location, free wi-fi, 24-hour reception/security, price and on-site bar or restaurant.

17. Hotel restaurants and bars are equally popular amongst men

and women, although 42.5% of men drink alone in the bar compared to 32.2% of women.

18. Half of all business travellers use the hotel gym and a third

use the spa, although the gym is more popular with men than women, with the reverse applying to the spa.

Location Free wi-fi24-h reception

MOST TRAVELLERS MAKE HOTEL CHOICES BASED ON:

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19. Men are more likely to use hotel body-wash, shampoo &

conditioner, in-room kettle and iron than women – but not the hairdryer.

20. More than half of business travellers would stay in an

Airbnb, although fewer women are willing to do so than men, although they are more open to the concept than men.

21. Bleisure seems to be gaining traction amongst European

business travellers. Just under half of travellers occasionally extend their business stays for leisure.

Women in business

From working conditions, to pay-gaps, thirty decades of lobbying and debate have transformed the workplace. 31% of all private companies in the US are now owned by women2 whilst 75% of businesses around the world have at least one woman on their senior management teams3. Emerging economies such as Africa (where 89% of businesses have at least one woman in senior management) and Eastern Europe (87%) have led the way but there has also been a significant increase in North America (69% to 81%) and the European Union (from 64% to 73%) in the last year.

By contrast, the UK lags its global competitors. Here, just 22% of senior management team members are women, compared to 29% globally). Two years ago, The Davies Report recommended that 33% of Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 350 boards should be female by 2020. However, 2018 research4 shows that the number of women holding the most senior jobs in the boardrooms of Britain’s biggest companies has fallen to 6.4%. There’s a long way to go.

However, there is a clear correlation between gender diversity at board level and an increase in women in management positions5 So does it follow that more women are travelling on business?

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Women in travel

Nearly two-thirds of all travellers today are women6. Women make 80% of all travel decisions7. That means 670m women around the world control $15 trillion in spending power, making female travellers a market twice the size of China and India’s markets combined8.According to the GBTA, the proportion of female business travellers in corporate travel programmes has risen by half during the last five years. Nearly 70% of travel managers agree that female business travellers today face higher travel safety risks9.

Although awareness of those risks has never be higher, just 18% of corporate travel policies specifically address the safety needs of female business travellers. 61% of travel buyers believe that it is important to consider female safety issues when selecting lodging

for their travellers, but only 44% have arrangements in place that allow them to recommend female-friendly lodging options.

Travel to some cities and countries, sexual harassment and assault or kidnapping are women travellers’ main safety concerns. Yet 61% of travel programmes rarely or never provide chauffeured transportation to female travellers.

This doesn’t mean the travel industry hasn’t been trying to address female travellers’ needs. Back in the 80’s, Forte Hotels introduced women-only floors in selected hotels. Lady Crest rooms were equipped with ironing boards, hairdryers, better mirrors and spy holes.

25 years later Hilton did the same – briefly – and in 2013 Hyatt followed suit with ‘Hyatt for Her’. Around the same time boutique hotels such as Dukes in London’s St James’ Place introduced Duchess rooms for lady guests. Today, women-only rooms and floors are offered by hotels around the world.

In the rail sector, female-only train carriages are a regular sight in Japan. In March 2016, German train operator

Mitteldeutsche Regiobahn announced the introduction of a women-only carriage on its trains following several violent sex attacks. By contrast, airlines have done relatively little, although Air India and New Delhi-based carrier Vistara have recently launched preferred seating, baggage and transport assistance for female flyers10.

Travel management has changed too. Personalising the traveller experience is essential to maintain the policy compliance that drives maximum value from corporates’ travel spend, so travel managers are engaging with a more diverse range of stakeholders than ever before in a bid to create travel programmes that meet the personal needs of every business traveller.

In the rail sector, female-only train carriages are a regular sight in Japan.


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Attitudes towards business travel

Fig.1 – Do you enjoy travelling?

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Women yes Women no Men yes Men no

As Fig.1 shows, despite the challenges of business travel, 86.11% of respondents enjoyed travelling. 45.83% of women enjoy travelling compared to 39.58% of men.

What they all like most is that business travel enables face-to-face interaction. As Fig 2 shows, 60% of all survey respondents made this the top answer, followed by meeting colleagues (57.4%), the sheer experience of travel (54.7% and the cultural benefits (52.51%). However, women are slightly less enthusiastic than men when it comes to face-to-face interaction.


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Men

Enjoy the experience of travel

0%

Fig.2 – Why do you enjoy business travel

Fig. 3 shows that time spent away from the family is what 77.2% of respondents like least about business travel (although 26.9% of travellers said this is a benefit…), followed by disruption to work (37.8%) and disliking having to travel alone (14.3%). 11.2% of travellers cited safety concerns as a downside to business travel. Women find business more disruptive to their work than men (20.2% vs 17.8%).

Fig.3 – What don’t you like about business travel

Women All

5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Prefer face to face interaction

Social opportunities

Meeting colleagues

Cultural experiences

Time away

Cultural differences

Food preferences

Social expectations

Dislike traveling solo

Nervous traveller

Safety concerns

Disruptive to work

Away from family/partner

Women AllMen

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

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Frequency of travel

Fig.4 – Frequency of travel

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

All

Less than 10 trips a year

Women Men

Between 10 and 20 trips a year More than 20 trips a year

Survey respondent’s frequency of travel varies.

Fig. 4 shows that almost half (49%) of our travellers make less than ten trips a year; 30.6% make between ten and twenty trips and 20.4% make more than twenty trips a year.

As Fig. 5 shows, the most frequent length of travel is a two-night stay. 29% of trips

fall into this category compared to 21.9% for four – seven-night stays and 19.8% for three-night stays. One-night stays account for 18.3% of trips. Although women undertake slightly more overnight stays to men (10.7% vs 7.6%), more men go away for longer than women.


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The type of travel being undertaken by our travellers is evenly spread between domestic, European and International travel (see Fig. 6). In terms of frequency of travel, male travellers are again travelling more than their female colleagues in every category.

As Fig. 7 shows, 41% of travellers will be travelling more in the foreseeable future, with the biggest percentage (46.7%) saying their amount of travel will stay the same. Just 12.3% of travellers say they will be travelling less.

In this area there is a clear gender disparity. As Fig. 4 shows, 31.1% of women make less than ten trips a year, compared to 18% of male business travellers. Conversely, more men take more trips; 19.4% vs 11% taking ten to twenty trips and 13.8% vs 6.6% making over 20 trips per year.

Fig.5 – What is your average length of business trip?

Women MenAll

Same day return travel

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Overnigth stay

2 night stay

3 night stay

4–7 night stay

7+ nights

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Continued

Fig.6 – Travel type vs frequencyn (weighted average)

Fig.7 – In the future you will travel

International

The same amount

European

Less

Domestic

More

Men

Men

Women

Women All

0

0%

0.5

10%

1

20%

1.5

30%

2

40% 50%

2.5 3

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There is further gender disparity between the main purpose of respondents’ business travel. As Fig. 8 shows, whilst meeting clients is the single biggest reason (34.6%), this only holds true for 12.5% of female travellers compared to 22.3% of males.

Internal meetings are the most prevalent reason for women travelling on business (12.9%, compared to 10.3% for men) and 23.1% of trips overall.

Across all respondents, 18.1% of business travel is project-related, however men account for 11.3% of these trips compared to 6.9% of women. However, women appear to attend more events and conferences than men (11.7% vs 5.9%). 4.7% of women travel for training purposes compared to 1.9% of men.

18.1%of business travel is project-related.

Fig.8 – Primary reasons for business travel

Project

Internal

Training

Event/Conference

Client meetings

Men Women All

0% 10% 20%15% 25%5% 40%30% 35%

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Travel mode

Air travel accounts for 71.4% of business trips, with rail being the mode of travel for 26.6% of respondents and car rental for 23.7% (see Fig. 9). There’s little difference between the proportion of men and women travelling by air, although women travel by train more than men (16.4% vs 10.2%) with the opposite applying to self-drive (14.7% vs 9.2%).

Fig.9 – Most frequent travel method

16.4% 10.2%

TRAVEL BY TRAIN:

VS

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

140%

160%

MenWomenAll

Fly Rail Self-drive


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As Fig. 10 shows, 37.7% of travellers book business travel through their nominated company booker or team; 31.9% self-book using the online booking tool and 23.7% self-book via their TMC. 87.2% say that these channels are their preferred method of booking. The booking habits of men and women are broadly the same, although men are marginally more likely to book through the company booker or team (20.5% vs 17.1%). As Fig.11 shows, women are marginally happier with their channel than men (44.2% vs 42.7%).

Fig.10 – How do you book business travel

Fig.11 – Is this your preferred channel?

Self-book using travel company

Self-book using online booking tool

Company travel bookier/team

Direct with airlin/hotel

AllWomenMen

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Men

Women

All

YesNo

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

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Airports

Fig 12 shows that a third (33.5%) of business travellers drive to the airport, marginally more (31.9%) than those who take taxis. Public transport accounts for 13.6% of airport transfers, with 11.3% taking place through pre-arranged transfer. Uber has just 9.6% share of this market.

The preferences of male and female travellers in this area are very similar, other than that 18.6% of men drive to the airport, compared to 15% of women.

Once at the airport, only 23.8% of business travellers use a lounge every trip, with a further 33.7% of travellers doing so occasionally (see Fig. 13). 43.5% claim never to use an airport lounge. Of those who do use lounges pre-flight, 15.3% of men do so regularly, compared to 7.7% of women. 24.9% of women say they never use a lounge, compared to 18.5% of men.

Neither are airport showers gaining much traction amongst business travellers, as Fig. 14 shows. 79.6% say they never use them, although men who do outnumber women by three to one (14.6% vs 5.7%). As with airport lounges, a higher percentage of female travellers (42.9%) do not use airport showers, compared to men (36.8%).

Fig.12 – Mode of traveling to the airport

Taxi

Uber

Pre-arranged transfer

Drive

Public transport

Women AllMen

40%35%30%25%20%15%10%5%0%

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Fig.13 – How often do you use an airport lounge pre-flight?

Fig.14 – Do you use airport shower facilities?

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Occasionally NeverEvery time

MenWomenAll

Men

Women

All

YesNo

90%80%70%60%50%40%30%20%10%0%

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First class

Economy is the most common class of travel on both short and long-haul flights (see Figs. 15 & 16). 83.3% cite this as their most frequently-flown class for short-haul, compared to 50.2% for long-haul. Premium economy is most frequently flown for 10.7% of short-haul and 25.5% of long-haul. 5.4% of travellers fly business class on short-haul and 23.2% for long-haul. Just 0.7% of respondents travel first class regularly on short-haul and 1.1% for long-haul.

There’s little difference in the class of travel flown by gender other than in business class, where 13.5% of men turn left on the plane, compared to 9.7% of women.

As Figs 17 & 18 show, in 54% of all cases, the choice of class is determined by the length of flight, and in 78.4% by company policy. Both criteria are applied equally to male and female travellers.

Fig.15 – Travel class - short haul (<5 hours)

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Women MenAll

Economy Premium economy Business First


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Fig.17 – Is the class of flight determined by flight length?

Fig.16 – Travel class - long haul (5+ hours)

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Women MenAll

Economy Premium economy Business First

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

NoYes

All Women Men

Fig.18 – Is class of flight determined by company policy?

Continued

54% 78.4%

CHOICE OF CLASS:

VSlength of flight company policy

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100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

NoYes

All Women Men


Airline choice

Fig.19 – What’s your favourite airline?

TOP 5 FAVOURITE AIRLINES

# Women Men

1 British Airways (29.8%) British Airways (29.7%)

2 Emirates (12.0%) Emirates (16.3%)

3 Virgin Atlantic (10.6%) Virgin Atlantic (6.7%)

4 KLM (4.8%) KLM (4.8%)

5 easyJet (3.4%) easyJet (1.9%)

When asked to name their favourite airlines, male and female business travellers nominate the same airlines. As Fig. 19 shows, British Airways captured almost three times as many votes as Emirates in second place amongst men and women alike, although 33.7% of women and 30.1% of men said they had no preference at all.

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Fig.19 – What’s your favourite airline?

Cathay Pacific

Lufthansa

Etihad

Singapore Airlines

easyJet

KLM

Virgin Atlantic

Emirates

British Airways

No preference

Women AllMen

40%35%30%25%20%15%10%5%0%

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Continued

Service is the top-ranked reason for male and female travellers’ choices, followed by loyalty scheme rewards (17.1%) and rousting (12.9%). See Fig. 20.Loyalty schemes are a more powerful pull for men, with 10% citing rewards as a key factor in airline choice, compared to 6.7% of women, even though 70% of female travellers belong to an airline loyalty programme, compared to 37.2% of men. See Fig. 21.

Fig.20 – Why is this your favourite airline?

Fig.21 – Airline loyalty programme member?

Other (please specify)

Meals

Loyalty Programme

Service

Routing

Women

Yes

All

No

Men

25%20%15%10%5%0%

All Women Men

80%

70%

50%

30%

60%

10%

20%

40%

0%

29

Seats and baggage

As Fig.22 shows, just over half (51.2%) of business travellers prefer the privacy of a window seat, although 42.2% prefer the aisle. 27.9% of women prefer the window seat, compared to 23.4% of men, whereas the same proportion of men opt for the aisle seat compared to 18.9% of women.

Only 5.8% opt for the exit row, although of those who do, men outnumber women by more than three to one.

48.3% of travellers have upgraded their seats to get extra leg-room, although 51.6% claim not to. 26.3% of men have done this, compared to 22% of women. See Fig. 23.

Less than a third (30.8%) of business travellers check their baggage every time (see Fig. 24). 61.2% do so depending on the length of trip. Few business travellers never check baggage, but of those in this group, men our number by 5.7% to 2.3%.

Fig.22 – Seat preferences

Fig.23 – Up-graded seat to get extra leg room


All Women Men

Window Aisle Middle Exit row

50%

30%

60%

10%

20%

40%

0%

Yes No

All Women Men

50%

30%

60%

10%

20%

40%

0%

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Continued

Fig.24 – How often do you check your baggage?

FIG. 25 – MOST FRUSTRATING ASPECTS OF FLYING

Women Men

1. Time wasted at the airport 1. Delays and disruption

2. Delays and cancellations 2. Time wasted at the airport

3. Security processes 3. Security processes

4. Queuing 4. Check-in procedures

5. Length of time spent travelling 5. Other passengers

Men and women share the same frustrations when it comes to flying, as Fig. 25 shows. Time spent waiting and queuing at airport are female travellers’ biggest bug-bears, compared to delays and cancellations for men.

AllWomenMen

70%60%50%40%30%20%10%0%

Determined by length of stay

Never

Every time

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Hotels

As Fig. 26 shows, on arrival at the destination airport, most business travellers reach their hotels or meetings by official taxi. Both women (23.2%) and men (22.6%) choose this option, with an identical proportion (15.3%) of both sexes selecting pre-arranged transfers. Men

are again more likely to opt for self-drive (7.2% vs 4.2%) or public transport (6.8% vs 5.5%).

There is little in the way of preferential treatment when it comes to travellers choosing where to stay. As Figs 27 * 28 show, overall, 67.2% of travellers can choose where they stay within company policy, whilst 26.3% of travellers have total freedom of choice, 17.1% of whom are men. Just 6.4% of travellers of both sexes

are bound to a mandated company policy.

Given the choice, 59.8% of all travellers (with men and women responding similarly) would prefer to stay near their meeting or office. Men have a slightly stronger preference to stay in city centres (16.1% vs 13.4%), whilst twice as many men than women simply don’t care where they stay.

Fig.26 – How do you travel from the airport to your hotel/meeting?


Hire car

Public transport, if available

Pre-arranged transfer

Official taxi

Women AllMen

50%40%30%20%10%0%

32 fcm.travel

Continued

Fig.28 – Where do you prefer to stay?

Fig.27 – Can you choose where you stay?

Men

No - policy mandatedWithin company policyTotal freedom

0%

10%

20%

40%

60%

80%

30%

50%

70%

WomenAll

AllWomenMen

Near the airport

Near to my meeting / office

In the city centre

I don’t really care

0% 10% 30% 50%20% 40% 70%60%

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What makes a good hotel?

There are remarkably few differences in the factors cited by male and female travellers when it comes to the necessary attributes in any business stay.

As Fig. 29 shows, Location and free wi-fi are ranked most important, followed by 24-hour reception and security, price and on-site bar or restaurant.

Whereas most travellers cited a preferred airline, as Fig. 30 shows, just 8,2% of women and 19.2% of men

say they have a favourite hotel chain., although those who do not have a preference are equally spread between female and male travellers.

Fig.29 – What is the most important factor in choosing a hotel?


All

Women

MenMeeting facilities

Loyalty programme

Breakfast inc.

24 hr reception

Location

Business centre

Early check-in

Gym/spa

Price

Free wi-fi

On-site shop

Room service

Free upgrade

Bar/restaurant on site

Parking

Lounge areas

Late check-out

Flexible T&Cs

0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 9%

Continued

Fig.30 – Do you have a favourite hotel chain?

Fig.31 – Hotel loyalty scheme members

Despite just under a third of travellers saying that that they do have a preferred hotel, survey respondents were reluctant to say who they are. Amongst the chains that were mentioned are Hilton, Marriott, IHG and Hyatt, each of which has a successful rewards programme. As Fig. 31 shows, over half (56.6% of all travellers, 32.1% of men and 24.5% of women belong to one or more hotel loyalty programmes.

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Men

NoYes

0%

20%

40%

80%

60%

100%

120%

WomenAll

Men

NoYes

0%

20%

40%

80%

60%

100%

120%

WomenAll

Hotel facilities

Fig.32 – Which hotel facilities do you use?

Fig.33 – How often do you use room service?

35


As Fig. 32 shows, the hotel restaurant and bar are the facilities business travellers’ use most. Only slightly fewer women (44.6%) use these areas than their male colleagues (47.6%).

Men and women dine in the restaurant in equal proportions, whereas 42.5% of men drink alone in the bar compared to 32.2% of women (see Fig. 34).

Similarly, the proportion of men and women eating in their rooms is broadly the same too – 34.7% of female travellers always or occasionally use room service, compared to 33.8% of men. 22.7% of male travellers go out to eat at night, compared to 12.9% of women. See Fig. 33.

100%80%60%40%20%0%

Women AllMen

Restaurant

Gym

Spa

Business lounge/centre

Bar

Meeting rooms

Concierge

60%50%40%30%20%10%0%

Women AllMen

Often

Occasionally

Never

36 fcm.travel

Continued

Fig.35 – How often do you use the hotel safe?

Fig.34 – Do you drink alone in your hotel?

Men

NoYes

0%

30%

40%

60%

50%

70%

80%

WomenAll

20%

10%

Women MenAll

0%

15%

20%

25%

Always Usually Sometimes Rarely Never

10%

5%

37

The continuing trend towards greater fitness and a healthy lifestyle is also evidenced in our survey. Half (50.9% of all business travellers surveyed say they use the gym when staying in a hotel that has one, with 35.3% making use of spa facilities. Men are bigger users of the gym than women (29,9% vs 20.9% of women), whilst 20% of women use the spa, compared to 15.4% of men.

Business travellers are most likely to use body-wash, shampoo & conditioner, in-room kettle and iron. In each case, men say they are more likely to use them than women, with one exception – the hairdryer. See Figs 35 & 36.

Fig.36 – Which hotel amenities are you most likely to use?


80%70%60%50%40%30%20%10%0%

Women

All

Men

Toothbrush

Body wash

Shampoo and conditioner

Hairdryer

Trouser press

Iron

Kettle/Coffee machine

I always just use what’s provided by the hotel

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Hotel alternatives

Business travellers are split over whether they would stay in an Airbnb, as Fig 37 shows. Overall 50.2% of travellers would do so, of which the proportion of female travellers outnumbers the men by 29% to 21.3%.Female business travellers appear more open to adoption too, with 16.9% of women saying they would not stay in an Airbnb compared to 32.9% of men.

Fig.37 – Whould you stay in a Airbnb?

Men

NoYes

0%

20%

30%

50%

40%

60%

WomenAll

10%

39

Extending stays

Bleisure – the practice of extending a business stay for leisure purposes – took its rise in America and seems to be gaining traction. As Fig. 38 shows, just under half of all respondents (47.2%) occasionally extend their stays, of which women account for 22.4% and men 24.8%. Only 5.3% of travellers extend half or more of their stays.Neither is there any significant difference in the proportion of male and female travellers who travel the night before if they have any early meeting. 41.4% of women do this, compared to 47% of men, as Fig. 39 shows.

Fig.38 – Do you ever extend your stay for leisure?

Fig.39 – Do you travel the night before if you have an early meeting?


No

MenWomenAll

0%

20%

25%

40%

30%

35%

45%

50%

Yes, at least half the time

Yes, occasionally Yes, often

10%

15%

5%

NoYes

0%

80%

100%

120%

WomenAll Men

40%

60%

20%

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Stakeholder perspectives

“The reason that women stay away slightly longer than their male counterparts is that as well as planning and booking further out they also tend to travel earlier to their engagements to that they can get acclimatised as well as physically and mentally prepared for the job in hand.With more women than ever before reaching senior positions that require travel the travel industry is rightly looking at how they can attract this demographic and gain its loyalty. Whilst undoubtedly women are trying to ‘juggle it all’ with work, family and arguably invest more in their health and wellbeing regimes, a night away to catch up on sleep and some much needed ‘me time’ can make a business trip an enjoyable experience.

We’re seeing a greater focus on traveller wellbeing in the airline sector and projects within the hotel and TMC sectors to cater for the specific needs of female travellers. This makes excellent business sense. Women like to share their experiences and are likely to tell others about their good and bad trips and with the explosion of social media usage their influence shouldn’t be under-estimated.

We’re still seeing many women nervous about venturing out of their hotel rooms and as a result, they are missing out on the opportunity to immerse themselves and explore the local culture. With more in-depth, gender specific pre-trip travel advice and training some of these concerns could be alleviated and they would undoubtedly benefit from a richer travel experience and a better work-life balance.”

Carolyn Pearson, CEO, Maiden-Voyage.com

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Male and female business travellers are probably more similar, more homogeneous, than ever before. With just a few exceptions, the tastes and habits of both genders are the same. Corporate travel managers have yet to apply the principles of personalisation to gender needs other than under the catch-all umbrella of traveller safety.It seems that the needs of the female business traveller are still falling under the banner of ‘nice to have’ rather than ‘essential’. Perhaps the clamour for gender equality is stymying any cries for special treatment. Maybe Britain’s women business travellers need to shout a little louder.

Conclusions


Fig.40 – Survey respondents’ gender

fcm.travel42

Fig.42 – Survey respondents’ age rage

Age – 54.49% of respondents were aged forty or over; 39.12% were aged 26 to 40 and 6.39% were aged 18 to 25.

40+ 26-40 18-25

Fig.44 – Survey respondents’ organisation

Organisation – 81.47% of survey respondents were from private sector companies; 12.56% from the public sector. 3.52% were from the not-for-profit sector and 2.45% answered ‘don’t know’.

Public sector Private sector Not-for-profit Don’t know

Fig.43 – Survey respondents’ lifestyle

Lifestyle – 56.66% of respondents were married; 25.76% with children; 23.48% were single, 16.52% in a partnership and 5.03% divorced.

Married Single Divorced Partnership Children

Fig.41 – Survey respondents’ position

Female Male

Gender - 51.98% of respondents were female, compared to 48.02% male.

Region – 90.5% of respondents were from Europe; 3.95% from Asia; 3.04% from the Americas; 1.37& from the Middle East & Africa and 1.06% from Australia.

Senior executive

Manager/supervisor

Sales

Administrative

Support

Consultant

Trained professional

Total check

Position – 33.08% of respondents described themselves as Managers or Supervisors; 17.38% were senior executives, 17.07% administrative, 10.82% sales, 8.99% trained professionals, 7.16% support and 5.49% consultants.

Survey demographics

Sources

• Cranfield University Female FTSE Index 2018

• Credit Suisse Gender 3000 report (2016)

• George Washington University School of Business 2017

• Global Business Travel Association/WWStay 2018

• Grant Thornton International - Women in Business report 2018

• Harvard Business Review

• National Association of Women Business Owners survey 2018

• Women in Business Travel Report – Maiden Voyage/TIN 2016

• https://gutsytraveler.com/women-travel-statistics-women-travel-trends/

• https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/vistara-airline-woman-flyer-service-for-female-solo-travellers/

Acknowledgements

The FCM Women in Business Travel Report was written by Mark Harris of Travel Intelligence Network. www.the-tin.com

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