Business travellers split between traditional and alternative booking channels

Figures from the GBTA Foundation show business travellers from the UK, Germany and France are fairly evenly split between booking via traditional channels and alternative methods.

The study shows that three out of five in each country booked via a traditional channel i.e. travel manager, travel agent or online booking tool but a similar share used an alternative method such as supplier direct or online travel agent.

The study will make interesting reading for companies such as booking.com which launched its Booking.com for Business platform last year and says a fifth of bookings come from the business travel community.

As an example, 61% of business travellers from Germany say they used a traditional channel in the past 12 months while 60% say they used an alternative channel.

For business travellers from the UK, 59% say they used a traditional channel versus 64% that say an alternative booking method.

Even where travellers have access to an online booking system it seems they are largely allowed to use alternative methods as the chart below demonstrates.

The Concur-sponsored research also looks at company differences in terms of size and travel policy to reveal that travellers from larger companies are more likely to use traditional methods - that said, more than half in each country have used an alternative channel to book a trip in the past year.

Business travellers were asked reasons for booking outside the company's preferred channel most say better pricing, loyalty points and more convenience.

It's not all bad news for corporate booking tools however as almost half say it is their preferred booking channel even if they can use another method.

The study also throws up interesting figures on research methods for business travellers showing, for example, the figures tipping in favour of supplier direct when the volume of trips goes up with business travellers.