this is janet she's catching an early monday flight to seattle planning to return home friday night and staying at hyatt's downtown location so take a guess is janet's trip vacation or business okay that was easy janet is obviously a corporate worker management level or above on her way to wheel and deal but let's try something a little harder tyler and sophia are going to seychelles for three weeks a pretty long vacation right do you really think that both of them managed to persuade their bosses to give them three weeks off at the same time until pretty recently such a long absence from the office wasn't even possible well they're not taking a vacation not in the traditional sense of the word in the post-covet era when it doesn't matter where in the world you work they'll make a home office at an island resort see it's not always clear why the person is traveling so how do we know and why does it matter in the first place let's talk about the curious difference between business and leisure travel and how it's disappearing [Music] at booking.com they have a box to check for travelers to specify that they are going on a business trip it's there for a reason this affects the way booking is going to look for accommodations and display them for travelers behind the scenes of booking interfaces there are sophisticated engines analyzing all the different data a person is submitting which will paint a vibrant picture of a future traveler and if the picture accurately portrays the traveler's reality the price and service will perfectly match the customers expectations one of the most telling factors is how many days in advance the booking is being made as you may remember from our video about dynamic pricing in airlines carriers build their whole pricing strategy around this factor the closer the date of departure the higher the ticket price leisure travelers spend their own money so they tend to book more than 30 days in advance sometimes even three months before the departure knowing that airlines provide lower fares for advanced purchases but people traveling for work book their trips roughly nine days before departure since the trip is funded by employers price isn't such a big factor here that's why airlines increase prices the closer it gets to a departure thus covering both segments with a single strategy yet there are exceptions so we need a bit more to get to know the customer better for example how do they decide where to go there's tons of content that trigger one's wanderlust from your screensaver with coastal views and photos posted by friends and influencers to travel vlogs from museums music festivals and snowboarding resorts the vacation idea must take time to grow the average leisure traveler does solid research visiting nearly 38 websites before booking a getaway but word of mouth works best seventy percent of travelers admit that advice from friends and family impacts their booking decisions but business travelers don't get to choose the destination at all it's usually decided by the event or a partner's office location so employees or corporate travel managers pick flights for specific city pairs and a property in a given destination and yes such business hubs as new york berlin london or hong kong are among the key destinations that have direct flights between them the next detail travelers specify when booking is trip length and this is where the line starts to blur normally employees travel mid-week and spend four days on average dealing with their assignments the length of a leisure trip depends on traveler capabilities and imagination they can take as little as three days for weekend trips to 20-day full-blown holidays but it's not uncommon to mix the two for almost a decade the leisure trend has been messing with booking companies understanding of what a business traveler might want when embracing leisure workers extend their trips for a few more days to enjoy the city if they didn't have a vacation for a while it makes perfect sense to linger for this purpose they often take their spouses with them at the same time vacationers can adjust their trip dates to get lower fares or choose another airline that has better prices that's why airlines suggest flex search features displaying how prices differ depending on a date allowing you to search by the trip duration rather than specific dates besides dates people can have different priorities when selecting a flight as we said vacationers are pretty price sensitive actually 78 of them don't prefer for a particular airline and even if they do more than half of americans are not ready to pay extra for a flight by a preferred carrier but they are also less demanding when it comes to the quality of service food extra leg room cheap cancellations and a baggage space are not important when you're on a budget corporate travelers are an entirely different deal even though these people make only 13 of global bookings they produce about 75 of airline profits businesses often get their employees full service tickets which includes a free extra bag a meal with beverages on board wi-fi and late cancellation capabilities when it comes to accommodation traveler segments diverge even more typically holiday makers search for the most affordable properties in city centers close to specific landmarks or beaches leisure travelers crave amazing experiences and are often ready to pay more for dining events or tours compromising with a mediocre hotel room that's of course unless they're having a workation remember tyler and sophia they're two of the many remote workers enjoying the best of both worlds having to spend a lot of time at their laptops they still need a good place to stay usually a rental home or a hotel room equipped with a suitable workspace in this regard they are much more like business travelers road warriors have a few days to get things done and their room must be a comfortable equivalent of work and home conditions they prefer properties located close to the office or venue and places to eat and have fun the service package must have what's required to keep their work coming everything from a coffee machine and desk to an ironing board not to mention high performance wi-fi most business travelers are also members of loyalty programs by marriott hilton and hyatt these chains span across the globe's key economic hubs mostly catering to the business segment and it makes sense wherever you go for business you can find your preferred hotel and get bonuses for checking in only 21 of business travelers don't belong to any hotel loyalty program but it's not only about hotels some business travelers especially millennials and zoomers may favor alternative lodging from sharing economy services like airbnb 36 of traveling employees noted they book airbnb type properties and boutique hotels looking for unique travel experiences airbnb offers the airbnb for work program allowing business travelers to book accommodations and experiences monitor and manage spends and generate invoices so booking time destination trip length flight preferences and accommodation type can tell us a lot about the person on the other side of the screen but as soon as you think you've figured them out they become inscrutable once again taking unexpected paths business travelers must be the most elusive ones which recovery not expected until 2024 the corporate travel industry might never return to our understanding of normal this means that everything we've learned about it so far might be deemed useless who will keep traveling for work when a zoom meeting promises to be just as productive the future of leisure travel is a bit more definite yet it won't come out of the crisis unchanged now when people are no longer attached to their offices they see vacations differently and expect the travel industry specifically the hospitality sector to adjust to their needs [Music] [Music] you