Business travelers do much of their travel planning through their managed travel programs, but once they are on the road they do a lot of research on their mobile devices in-destination.
That's one of the findings of a new PhoCusWright study, sponsored by Rearden Commerce, on business travelers' use of mobile. Rearden Commerce states:
"With 84 percent reporting using smart phones for business use during travel, participants indicated their top three travel-related activities via mobile phone today are focused on location: mapping or finding directions (80 percent); researching local activities (63 percent); and researching destination information (55 percent).
"The traveler’s propensity to act on that location-based information via mobile phone is substantial, with 30 percent reporting they would like to receive personalized offers specific to their destination."
In one of the most interesting findings of the survey, 42% of business travelers indicated they access the mobile Web on their devices of choice to perform tasks that they wouldn't ordinarily do on their desktops.
Some of this mobile-only activity included receiving flight-related alerts, tracking their travel spending and consulting their reservation information, says Allison Jeannotte, Rearden's social media director.
In the less surprising category, 75% of business travelers responded that they go online using their mobile phones.
“The next wave of innovation will come from those companies that understand it’s all about a business traveler’s context and location -- where a traveler is, what they are doing and what is relevant to them, and to the company they work for, at that point in time,” says Tony D’Astolfo, Rearden's senior vice president of travel services. “It’s why we are so focused on ensuring our mobile solution is personalized and anticipatory – keeping the traveler productive and efficient, providing the merchant with the opportunity to merchandise, and delivering savings and peace-of-mind to the corporate travel manager.”
PhoCusWright plans on releasing the full results of the survey in December, Rearden says.