Business Travel

Building products around and marketing to the next generation of business travelers will not be an easy task. Social, fickle, design-centric and narcissistic, Millennials demand the highest of product standards while resisting traditional marketing methods. In this report, we’ll look at some of the success stories and trends facing the industry as the next generation of travelers comes of age.

Staying fit and eating well on the road is important to a growing number of travelers, causing airports, hotels and spas to create better options for those seeking to integrate healthy habits into their journeys.

How do top executives and mobile gurus in travel view the dramatic shift toward mobile that’s under way and what does it mean for lookers, bookers and the bottom line? This Skift Trends Report traces some of the seminal shifts of 2014, from the dramatic rise in mobile bookings to same-day hotel-booking trends and marketing trends that impact mobile development.

The convention of the future is a co-created hybrid mechanism of live and virtual engagement, fluidly connecting more people through more channels over longer periods of time to leverage the collective knowledge of the community.

Business travel is showing post-recession resiliency, and opportunities to reach working travelers abound in the digital ecosystem. For brands, capturing a segment of what’s estimated to be some $71 billion in business-travel revenue, however, means a balancing act between travelers’ wants, corporate travel policies, and the emerging expectations of Millennials in the space.

Leading visionaries of aviation industry cabin design share their views on class structure, the challenges and complications of designing for the needs of a variety of travelers, as well as insights into the misconceptions of what is happening behind the scenes of the aircraft interiors design industry.

Female business travelers make up a large share of the Business Travel Market, controlling 60% of U.S. wealth and influencing 85% purchasing decisions. They are high-tech, connected, and social and represent 58% of online sales. To get maintain their competitive edge, travel brands must start focusing their campaigns to better target women.

The hotel meetings and events industry is going through a radical evolution due to new communication technologies, Millennial psychographics, and a rethinking of the overall purpose and value. Pop culture events like TED and SXSW are also changing the perspective of what’s possible at conferences, but are meeting planners and hospitality executives jumping on these trends fast enough?

Loyalty programs have become a multi-billion dollar revenue stream for travel companies, yet this success has come at the expense of their original purpose: forging stronger connections with customers. How can marketers capitalize on new innovations in technology and shifts in traveler behavior to build more genuine customer loyalty and larger profits in the future?

The line between airports and the destinations they serve has blurred. Once regarded as purely utilitarian infrastructure, airports are now becoming more integrated with their surroundings and hosting new experiences for passengers and non-passengers alike.

A deep dive into the rapidly-changing state of in-room entertainment.