2014 Business Travel Saver Report: Top Strategies
NEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2014 — Rocketrip released its 2014 Business Travel Saver Report today revealing the top saving strategies identified from its next generation travel management platform. Rocketrip users, who are rewarded for cost-saving behavior, were incentivized to save their employers over $250,000 across 2,000+ trips. Savings came from expected behavior such as booking coach over business and choosing a three-star hotel over four-star. But Rocketrip users were also motivated to search for savings beyond the obvious scenarios by surfing for deals on the open market, purchasing bundled packages, booking via Airbnb and opting to stay with friends or family.
Flight Savings Summary
- Average savings for flights – 21.9 percent under budget
- Bleisure travel (extending business trip into vacation) saves 35 percent under budget – two times the average rate of savings
- Taking low cost carriers saves 33 percent under budget – two times the average rate of savings
- Taking rail instead of flight saves 44 percent under budget – nearly three times the average
Top Saver Types by Flight
- Greatest savings per flight: using personal miles or taking coach instead of business class
- Most common saver type: choosing the lowest available fare followed by choosing connecting flights
- Greatest savings for multi-trip itineraries for domestic and international trips: taking rail instead of flight followed by choosing a flight with connections
- Greatest savings for international roundtrip: Bleisure trips followed by booking multiple one-way flights
- Greatest savings for international one-way: using personal miles is the biggest saver, while choosing rail over flights is the most common strategy
Lodging Savings Summary
- Average lodging savings: 37 percent under budget
- Booking a discounted deal through a travel site saves 26 percent – 1.2 times the average
- Airbnb is a growing trend among Rocketrip companies:
- Booking through Airbnb saves 41 percent or an average of $102 per night – two times the average rate of lodging savings
- Airbnb stays are split evenly between domestic and international: San Francisco is the most popular US city and Amsterdam is the top European city
- Airbnb stays average 6.5 nights compared to 2.8 for hotel stays
Top Saver Types by Hotel
- Greatest savings per night: staying with a friend
- Most common saver scenario: choosing the lowest rate, followed by beating the corporate rate, and staying with friends.
- Staying with a friend saves the most per night in Paris but is most common in New York City
- 16 percent of savers booked a deal or bundled package through an online travel agency, such as Expedia or Orbitz
Car Trends
- Greatest savings per day on car is from booking through a low cost rental agency or getting a deal on KAYAK
- Most frequent saver type is choosing a less expensive car class
Bleisure Trends
(defined as adding personal vacation days to a business trip, including a Saturday stayover, thereby reducing flight costs)
- Average number of extra days booked for domestic Bleisure trips is 2.6 days per trip
- Most popular domestics cities for Bleisure are San Francisco, New York City, and Los Angeles
- Average number of extra days booked is 3.5 for international itineraries
- Germany and China were most popular international Bleisure destinations
“Rocketrip has been an instrumental tool in the travel savings generated by employees for FreeWheel,” says Claudia Klossner, VP of Finance and Corporate Controller at FreeWheel, a subsidiary of the Comcast Corporation. “Both employees and management appreciate Rocketrip’s flexibility to generate savings on trips booked through the open market, as well as through our travel management partner. Employees love the rewards and we’re loving the savings.”
“The statistics provided in Rocketrip’s Business Travel Saver Report are an exciting validation that the platform resonates with the next generation of business traveler. Whether used in conjunction with a TMC or as the company’s primary travel management platform, Rocketrip clients save significant amounts of money on year over year travel spend,” says Rocketrip Founder and CEO Dan Ruch. “The report highlights a number of money saving behaviors that should be encouraged throughout the industry as corporate travel continues to evolve and embrace the movement towards open market bookings and the sharing economy.”
Rocketrip (http://www.rocketrip.com) is the first commercially available travel management platform to save companies money on travel expenses by motivating employees to become willing and enthusiastic partners in cost savings. Rocketrip’s algorithms integrate a company’s travel policy with real-time trip pricing and availability to create a personalized Smart Budget for each trip. Employees are set free to book using their favorite travel websites and are rewarded for booking under budget by sharing a percentage of the savings in gift cards for major retailers. Rocketrip provides employers with insights and analytics on company spending, savings and employee travel behavior, giving them the ability to optimize their travel policy and rewards program.
Rocketrip is based in New York City and has received funding from Canaan Partners, Crunchfund, Genacast Ventures, Y Combinator, and angel investors.
