Research Digest:

Adding value
at-destination for
the end traveller
Understanding the business
travellers in-trip needs and the
mobile services they aspire for.

Introduction
TNS, on behalf of Amadeus, conducted a study on the needs of the business traveller to determine
what mobile services they value most at destination. The study spanned 1,636 respondents from
eight countries and a series of workshops with travel organisers in November 2012.

The study

The selection criteria were business travellers that

have done at least two business trips with overnight
stays in the last twelve months. Furthermore, at
least one of the business trips in the last twelve
months had to involve a flight. The respondents
were from the UK, Spain, Italy, France, Benelux,
South Africa, Saudi Arabia and UAE

The selection criteria

1,636
respondents

8
countries

business
trips
min
in the last 12 months

at least

of them

involving a flight

Who is TNS?
TNS is part of Kantar, one of the world's largest insight, information and consultancy
groups. With a presence in over 80 countries, TNS has more conversations with the worlds
consumers than anyone else and understands individual human behaviours and attitudes
across every cultural, economic and political region of the world.

Who is the Business Traveller?

Typically, the average business traveller did eight trips in the last year, of which six had
overnight stays and five involved a flight.

AVERAGE

TRAVELLED

business traveller

involved a flight

64% were male and the

travellers were 40 years old
and were managers in their
companies. Majority of them
had a managed or slightly
managed travel policy (30.7%
and 24.9% respectively).(1)

Travelling
frequency

21
8

times a year

with overnight stays

36%

64%
40

years old

The frequent business traveller

times a year

Average traveller

in the last year

On average

Frequent traveller

times

A sub-group, the frequent business

traveller (n=330), had a higher-level job
and travelled much more frequently
than the average business traveller
(twenty-one vs. eight times a year),
fifteen of which had overnight stays and
eleven involved a flight. They were more
inclined to arrange their business trips
directly with the provider (unmanaged
travel policy: 42.8% vs. average
traveller unmanaged policy: 44.4%).

How do they use their mobile phone

in general and while travelling?
These same business travellers were also relatively heavy smartphone users.

Looking at all
our respondents
Average
Business Traveller

only

35%
owned company
smartphones

75%

said their companies paid

for mobile internet abroad

51%

discovered new apps

through friends
or colleagues

Vs
Frequent
Business Traveller

50%
owned company
smartphones

81%

said their companies paid

for mobile internet abroad

48%
4

discovered new apps

through friends
or colleagues

70%
82%
64%

had travel apps on their smartphones

of them used at least 1 travel app during their last trip
preferred to access travel services through
mobile apps rather than mobile web

All of them had smartphones, but only 35% of

them owned company smartphones. 89% of them
owned personal smartphones that they used during
their business trip.
75% of business travellers said their company pays
for mobile internet while abroad.
The large majority had a smartphone with a
modern operating system: iOS 28%, RIM 20% and
Android 35%
Among business travellers, 61% were between
intermediate and advanced smartphone users,
meaning they are able to use their phones for social
networking, banking, shopping, video calls. (Basic:
38.7%, Intermediate: 38.1% and Advanced: 23%)
On average, they had 17 third party applications
installed, which increased to 27 apps amongst
iPhone users.
51% said that they usually discover new apps
through friends/colleagues.

All of them had smartphones, 50% of them

owned company smartphones. 85% of them owned
personal smartphones that they have used during
their business trip.
81% of frequent business travellers said their
company pays for mobile internet while abroad (vs
75%).
The large majority had a smartphone with a
modern operating system: iOS 29%, RIM 24% and
Android 35%
Frequent business travellers are slightly more
advanced smartphone users - 64% (vs 61%).
(Basic: 35.8%, Intermediate: 33.6% and
Advanced: 30.3%)
On average, they have 19 third party applications
installed (vs 17), which increases to 31 apps
amongst iPhone users.
48% said that they usually discover new apps
through friends/colleagues (vs 51%).

How do they use their mobile phone

in general and while travelling?

UK

Higher-level job positions in UK: considerably more Managers

28.7%

In Europe, the UK was the only country where BlackBerry, with

travelled (60.9% vs. 44.3%).

28.7%, had a considerable presence (vs. 20.1%).

were BlackBerry

British people were more willing to pay for 3rd party apps: 77.9%

77.9%

They discovered new apps more often through Reviews in blogs and

were more willing to pay

for 3rd party apps

BENELUX

41.5%

had paid for at least one app (vs. 71.1%).

forums (45.8% vs. 38.0%).

41.5% of the business travellers had a company smartphone. (vs.

34.8%).
8 out of 10 of the Benelux companies paid the internet abroad for

of the business travellers

had a company smartphone

their employees (vs. 74.8%).

8 out of 10

presence in the Benelux (15.5% vs. 8.3%).

Android was the leader but Windows phones have a relatively high

companies paid for internet abroad

FRANCE

46.6%
of travellers were women

had

24

3rd party apps in their

smartphones (vs. 17)

A higher percentage of travellers in France were women (46.6% vs.

36.1%).
Business travellers had lower-level job positions: 60.7% are
Executives (vs. 31.4%).
French companies allowed their travellers to use internet abroad for
anything their employees want more often than other
countries/regions (41.7% vs. 33.6%).
The French had more 3rd party apps in their smartphones (24 vs.
17), however they paid for them less often (62.4% vs. 71.1%).

ITALY

The majority of Italian business travellers were women (51.5% vs.

36.1%).
They arranged the business trips on their own more frequently
(49.5% vs. 40.7%).

51.5%
of travellers were women

49.5%

As in Spain but with less intensity, the main ways of arranging a

business trip were via traditional (60.5% vs. 51.6%) and online travel
agencies (57.0% vs. 45.4%).
Android was more prominent in Italy, 43.0% (vs. 35.6%).
Their smartphone usage was generally speaking
more basic (46.5% vs. 38.7%).

arranged the business trips

on their own more frequently

Comparisons provided are against the total sample average.

How do they use their mobile phone

in general and while travelling?

SPAIN

53.0%
owned Android handsets

58.5%
discovered new apps
through friends
and colleagues

SOUTH
AFRICA

40.5%

Only 16.5% of Spanish Business travellers were Directors (vs. 24.4%).

The vast majority were Managers (59.5% vs. 44.3%).
Spanish employees were more often encouraged, but not required, to
use the company's travel agency 31.5% (vs. 24.9%).
They preferred to arrange business trips through traditional (72.0% vs.
51.6%) or online travel agencies (66.5% vs. 45.4%).
Spain was the country with the most Android handsets (53.0% vs. 35.6%).

Friends and Colleagues were the main way to discover new apps
(58.5% vs. 51.0%).

High percentage of women (45.7% vs. 36.1%).

RIM had double the market share in comparison to WEMEA (40.5%
vs. 20.1%).

RIM Market share

37.6% were advanced smartphone users (vs. 23.0%).

37.6%

A higher willingness to pay for 3rd party apps, with 79.8% having

UAE

More than 8 out of 10 travellers in UAE were men (84.5% vs.

were advanced
smartphone users (vs. 23.0%)

84.5%
of travellers in UAE
were men

45.6%

had company smartphones

paid for at least one app (vs. 71.1%).

63.9%).
High representation of directors (33.4% vs. 24.4%) and high
ownership of company smartphone (45.6% vs. 34.8%).
Companies were most restrictive in the travel policy, with only
26.6% allowing their employees to arrange the business trip by
themselves. (vs. 40.7)
Blackberry was the strongest smartphone platform in UAE with the
39.1% of the smartphones (vs. 20.1%).

SAUDI
ARABIA

12.3%
had company
smartphone
had

25

apps

and were more prone to

installing 3rd party apps

The vast majority of travellers were men (84.3% vs. 63.9%) and the
proportion of directors is high (30.3% vs. 24.4%). However in contrast to
UAE, just 12.3% had a company smartphone. (vs. 34.8%)
Internet abroad was only paid for by the employer for 66.2% (vs.
74.8%).
Almost half of the business travellers had an Android smartphone (45.6%
vs. 35.6%) and over the half were basic users 51.5% (vs. 38.7%).
They appeared to be more prone to installing 3rd party apps (25 vs. 17).
They were also more likely to discover new apps through reviews
(55.3% vs. 38.0%) and the family (46.7% vs. 39.9%).

Comparisons provided are against the total sample average.

What mobile services are they looking for?

A variety of mobile services were tested with Business Travellers. These concepts came
from the following categories: Flight and Airport Services, Hotel Services, Dining and
Leisure, Experience Sharing, Travel Tools and Expense Management.

Top 10 Mobile Services

for Business Travellers:
1. Flight & Airport: Baggage

6. Travel: Maps

2. Flight & Airport: Delay voucher

7. Travel: Emergency situations

3. Flight & Airport: Check-in

8. Travel: Emergency contacts

4. Flight & Airport: Itinerary

9. Expense Management: Expenses

5. Hotels: Change booking

10. Flight & Airport: Ground transportation

The table below represents how the respondents from each market rated the
different mobile services and how it compares to the total sample average.

No.

Concept

UK

Spain

France

Italy

Benelux

UAE Saudi Arabia South Africa

1
2

A. Baggage
A. Delay-voucher

30
30

30
30

28
30

30
30

30
28

30
30

30
28

28
27

30
30

3
4

A. Check-In
A. Itinerary

29
29

29
29

30
30

29
30

30
29

30
29

25
28

18
22

30
29

5
6

H. Change booking
T. Maps

29
25

28
24

25
26

29
25

29
25

29
20

29
22

28
22

26
24

7
8

T. Emergency situations
T. Emergency contact

25
24

22
25

19
26

25
24

25
24

25
24

27
26

30
21

22
24

S. Expenses
A. Ground. trans.

24
24

24
22

20
20

24
23

17
16

24
24

21
23

20
24

24
23

9
10

A. VIP lounge offer

A. Map & POI
T: Emergency Info
H. Concierge
L. Book table
T. Click-to-contact
T. Converter $-
L. Reminders

Total
Sample
Average

24
22
23
23
20

21
24
21

25

26

22

24

28
20
20

Corporations and TMCs on mobile solutions

In the second leg of the study, a series of workshops were conducted with travel organisers
from major global corporations and senior managers from Travel Management Companies
(TMCs). The aim of the workshops was to understand their needs and restrictions as well as
to validate the key findings from the business traveller study.

Business
Travellers

s
ntative
Represe
s
n
o
ti
ra
o
of Corp
ere
w
s
C
M
and T
d with
presente ries of
o
g
te
a
the c
s
service
e
il
b
o
m
asked
re
e
w
and
em
nise th
to orga
ir
e
n th
based o
nce.
prefere

01.
Flight &
Airport Services

02.

03.

Hotel
Services

A to B

04.

05.
Emergency
Services
Expense
Management

Corporations

01.
Flight &
Airport Services

03.
A to B

05.
Expense
Management

02.
Emergency
Services

TMCs

04.

Hotel
Services

Emergency
Services
Flight &
Airport
Services

02.

04.

05.

Hotel
Services

03.
A to B

Expense
Management

01.

Corporations and TMCs on mobile solutions

Most desirable services for

Business Travellers
airport

making
changes to
hotel
booking

Corporations

Services related to the airport (locating lost

luggage, receipt of a voucher in case of delays,
flight check-in and itinerary management) as
well the ability to make changes to a hotel
booking were considered most desirable.

TMCs
Amongst

the Corporations
there was one clear

favourite
mobile solution:

airport services

For travel organisers

from TMCs,
emergency services
was a

priority.

Although there was a degree of polarisation on the solutions

during emergency situations (some rating it highest, some rating
it lowest), overall it was the second most favoured possible
solution. Least popular were expenses based solutions. For
TMCs, the airport solution was much less popular perhaps
illustrating a territorial response to a key TMC service.

BUSINESS TRAVELLERS & CORPORATIONS

RATED HIGHEST

Flight

Airport
management
applications

In summary, Business
Travellers and Corporations
rated flight and airport
management applications
highest (recognising that
TMCs were more reticent).
There were high levels of
interest in solutions around
emergency situations amongst
Corporations and TMCs, and
although slightly less interest
amongst Travellers.

What is the ideal mobile app?

Should
Fully integrated
Best in class
Delivers added value vs. thousands of other apps
Natural extension of online
Makes traveller more efficient and effective on the road
Reduce stress, save time and money
Show timely and accurate information
Can work
on different OS

Replicate whats available

Create an app or automate something

just because you can; human interaction

should not be underestimated.

Busin
e
Corp ss travel
l
orati
ons er
TMC
s

Shouldnt

10

Conclusions

Business travellers

SMARTPHONE
is king

Business travellers used their personal or company smartphones to assist

them during their trips. Most of the travellers had travel apps installed and
accessed these apps during their last trip. They were more interested in mobile
services that were related to flight and airport services such as lost baggage,
delay vouchers, online check-in and itinerary management.
Though most of them do not currently have in trip solutions, Corporations and
TMCs were interested in developing them as long as the solution does not
replicate what is already available. Corporations and TMCs realised the
benefits of having a mobile solution as it increases the travellers productivity
on the road, reduces stress and can lead to cost-effective changes.
Like the Business traveller, Corporations were interested in flight and airport
services, while TMCs ranked emergency services first. Expense management
services were ranked least important across all the respondents. For TMCs, it
was important to note that human interaction and the expertise of the human
counsellor were not underestimated when developing a mobile solution.
Although there are differences in opinion, there was a degree of commonality
across Corporations, TMCs and the Business travellers on what the ideal
application or mobile solution should look like. All were keen to have a fully
integrated solution, which was best in class.

11

Research Study:
November 2012
(1) Travel management policy
Managed: Employees are required to use the company's travel
agency/department.
Slight managed: Employees are encouraged, but not required
to use the company's travel agency/ department
Unmanaged:
1) Employees make their own travel arrangements with the
travel agency of their choice because the company does not
have a travel agency/ department.
2) Respondent can make his own travel arrangements with a
travel agency of his choice because he/she is self-employed