About 30% of business travelers combine leisure with business travel, or “bleisure,” according to the survey. Other findings included: the average daily rate (ADR) for hotels booked by business travelers in the US grew about 5% from 2022 to 2023. And post-COVID, travel agencies are playing an increasingly important role in booking business trips.
The report is the first corporate travel-focused version of The Internova Index: North American Traveler Insights series, which will be published annually. It is based on an analysis of millions of travel bookings in the US and Canada, as well as a consumer survey of approximately 3,000 travelers.
The study separates business travelers into three segments: Executives (employees in senior management positions); Road Warriors (high-frequency travelers in areas such as sales, account management, training or other interaction-focused roles); and Occasional Travelers, where travel is not a core part of their role.
While the overall number of trips per business traveler grew 3% from 2022 to 2023, the strongest growth was among Road Warriors, whose domestic trips increased by 30%.
Since 2019, according to the report, travel agencies have played an increasingly important role in booking business travel. This trend, it said, was likely driven by the complexity of planning travel during and shortly after the pandemic, and it is a change that has persisted. Road Warriors in particular are 15% more likely to use a travel management company (either an online booking tool or a human agent) in 2024 than they were in 2019.
J.D. O’Hara, CEO, Internova Travel Group, said it’s clear the network’s business travel clients “appreciate the vital assistance we gave them during and after the pandemic, and they are relying on us in ever-increasing numbers to provide the same high level of expert service, no matter where their work takes them.”
