The GBTA Foundation and its study sponsor, Concur, wanted to understand the motivations of business travelers when making out-of-policy travel decisions. The organizations wanted to study this issue within six markets, including the U.S., U.K., Canada, France, Germany, and Australia. The full report is available for purchase for non-members and at no cost for GBTA members. To learn more about the Global Business Travel Association please visit www.gbta.org

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© 2013 GBTA and its affiliates. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied or transmitted in any form or
medium now known or later invented without the express permission of GBTA.
1
© 2013 GBTA and its affiliates. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied or transmitted in any form or
medium now known or later invented without the express permission of GBTA.
Out-of-Policy Business Travelers and Their
Impact on the Bottom Line
United Kingdom
Sponsored by:

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© 2013 GBTA and its affiliates. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied or transmitted in any form or
medium now known or later invented without the express permission of GBTA.
Q1. Overall, how satisfied are you with your most recent business trip ? *Caution: Small sample size.
Q2. Why did you rate your satisfaction a [RATING]? Q4TM. What percentage of the business travelers in your organization do you think are highly satisfied with their business travel?
“It went smoothly thanks to
excellent administration by
colleagues, and the hotel and
flights were just as I would have
chosen myself” (10)
---------------------------
“The weather was bad and it
made traveling hard going”(8)
---------------------------
“Unfortunately the flight was
delayed and led to the trip being
a bit of a nightmare.” (5)
Overall Satisfaction with Most Recent Trip
66%
71%
62%
33%
29%
38%
0%
0%
1%
U.K. Business Travelers
(324)
Out-of-policy Travelers
(167)
In-policy Travelers
(157)
Very Satisfied (8-10)
Moderately Satisfied (4-7)
Very Dissatisfied (1-3)
Travel Managers (n=23*) believe that 67% of their business travelers on average are
“very satisfied” with their most recent trip.
• Of business travelers who went out-of-policy on their recent trip, they are only slightly more
satisfied with their trip overall compared to those who followed their company’s travel
policies.
• Although the data is directional, travel managers tend to be in tune with their travelers, as
they believe a similar majority of their own travelers are highly satisfied.
Two-thirds of U.K. business travelers are highly satisfied with
their most recent trip

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© 2013 GBTA and its affiliates. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied or transmitted in any form or
medium now known or later invented without the express permission of GBTA.
H/L denotes a significant difference from the corresponding group.
Q9. How did you book your hotel accommodations for this trip?
Method of Booking Hotel Accommodations on Most Recent Trip
(Of those who stayed in a hotel)
U.K. Business
Travelers
(276)
Out-of-policy
Travelers
(159)
In-policy
Travelers
(117)
Used an online travel reservations tool provided by
my company or travel agency
38% 36% 42%
Visited the hotel’s website 19% 21% 17%
Called or emailed a travel reservations specialist in
your company or travel agency
19% 16% 22%
Visited a travel reservations website like Expedia,
Orbitz, etc.
13% 18% H 8%
Called the hotel directly 4% 5% 3%
Went in-person to the hotel’s front desk 0% 1% 0%
Other 5% 4% 8%
U.K. business travelers used a variety of methods to book
their recent hotel accommodations, but company online
reservations tools are most popular
• Some also book through the hotel’s website or call/email a travel agent in their company or
agency.
• Those who went out-of-policy are more likely to have used a site like Expedia or Orbitz to
book their hotel than those who followed company policies.

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© 2013 GBTA and its affiliates. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied or transmitted in any form or
medium now known or later invented without the express permission of GBTA.
H/L denotes a significant difference from the corresponding group *Caution: Small sample size.
Q33. How often do you actually find better deals with the same travel parameters outside of your company’s preferred providers?
Q6TM. How often do you think they actually find better deals with the same travel parameters outside of your company’s preferred providers? Your best guess is fine.
Q6aTM. When business travelers find a better deal, do they typically report it to you? Q6bTM. How do you use this information?
42%
53%
5%
0%
Yes, all of the time Yes, sometimes
No Not sure
Incidence of Business Travelers
Reporting Better Deals to Travel
Managers
Travel Managers
(19*)
Frequency of Finding Better Deals
(of those who shop around)
U.K.
Business
Travelers
(259)
Out-of-
policy
Travelers
(154)
In-policy
Travelers
(105)
U.K.
Travel
Managers
(19)*
All of the time 7% 8% 6% 0%
Most of the time 34% 44% H 20% 0%
Half of the time 23% 21% 25% 5%
Some of the time 36% 27% 50% H 95%
Of those who shop around, four in ten think they find better
deals all or most of the time
• Out-of-policy travelers say they find better deals more often than in-policy travelers who
shop around.
• Although the findings are directional, most travel managers believe their business travelers
report better deals to them, and half of them (50%) use this information when negotiating
with travel providers.