Cvent, the industry's leading provider of technology for meetings, events and hospitality, has released the latest installment of its Cvent Travel Managers Report: Europe Edition, which provides hotels, venues and destinations with in-depth insight into trends and activities related to corporate travel acquisition.
The report shows that the vast majority of respondents (80%) have a positive view of the state of their organization's business travel activities. Among them, nearly two-thirds (64%) expect the number of trips in their organization to increase in 2023 compared to 2022, and nearly one-fifth (19%) say the increase will be significant.
While increased travel means increased spending, minimizing costs is still a priority. Sixty-five percent of respondents said rising costs are their main concern. This figure rises to 73% for travel managers in both France and the UK. Most aspects of business travel are subject to inflationary increases, with nearly 30% of respondents expecting the largest increase in ground transportation costs. Hotel rooms; travel costs; insurance and security; technology expenses and visas are other areas of greatest concern when it comes to rising costs.
As costs challenge organizations, corporate travel managers are finding new and creative ways to reduce expenses. The most important of these tactics (40%) is the desire to combine business travel with existing meetings and events that their teams are already scheduled to attend. In addition, 37% of business travel managers (up from 32% in the December 2022 report) say they plan to reduce the number of traveling colleagues; in France, this percentage rises to 43%. While the number of travelers may be reduced, the overall number of trips is likely to continue to grow.
Other important points from the report
Continued evolution of factors influencing hotel and venue booking decisions
Aside from cost, the biggest influences on travel managers' decisions to book hotels and venues are proximity to corporate headquarters (37%), flexibility of terms and conditions (35%), ease of access and familiarity with the destination (both 26%). Travel decision makers are also looking for quick answers and prioritize hotels that demonstrate effective use of technology during the RFP process.
Sustainability remains top of mind
Twenty-six percent of corporate travel managers believe that a greater focus on sustainability will shape their priorities over the next two years. In addition, nearly one-third (29%) of respondents are actively seeking out content and features related to sustainability initiatives at hotels and properties.
Changes in sourcing process and priorities
When asked how their approach to hotel sourcing has changed since 2019, 33% of respondents said they are spending more time searching for hotels using technology. In addition, 28% are looking for hotels that offer virtual and hybrid meeting technology.
The full report is available here. https://www.cvent.com/uk/resource/hospitality/cvent-travel-manager-report-europe-edition
Author: Anna Gorska
