rotator
rotator
rotator
rotator
rotator
rotator
rotator
News

Social media in corporate travel making inroads: survey

Saturday 3, July 2010

 

Social media in corporate travel making inroads: survey

 

Travel management pros see real value in social media tools for increasing travel programme agility and enhancing traveller satisfaction, according to a survey conducted by AirPlus International, a provider of corporate travel payment solutions.

 

 

Whether personal or job-related, corporate travel professionals are participating in more social networks than they did one year ago, and they are doing so at a higher rate, according to a Spring 2010 online survey conducted by AirPlus International. The recent exercise follows up on a year-ago survey also conducted by AirPlus, and included additional social networking platforms where respondents might be active users. Not only did the survey show fairly robust usage numbers for the new inclusions—Plaxo and TripIt—it also showed increased usage on for nearly every social platform making a repeat appearance in the survey this year.

 

Findings

While LinkedIn users held steady at about 58 percent, use of Facebook increased among surveyed travel management pros by almost 25 percent over last year’s numbers. Use of Twitter, which was employed by 15.5 percent of survey respondents last year, ostensibly doubled its numbers in the 2010 survey. Corporate travel industry blogs were another big performer in year-over-year comparisons, with 20 percent of respondents indicating they participated in this format in 2010 compared to less than 13 percent who did so in 2009, an increase of 50 percent.

 

Survey respondents indicated that traveller use of social media sites for travel-related recommendations and/or services has also been on the rise since last year. Forty percent said that their travellers had increased use of social networks for travel-related research, while less than five percent thought that it had decreased.

 

Specialised travel sites that incorporate social networking elements as well as itinerary management tools have developed a devoted following among leisure and business travelers. TripIt, which showed a strong debut in the AirPlus survey this year, has capitalised on that business traveller interest by offering a free “groups” service that allows a company to create a private network through the site based on the company’s email domain name. The group function allows co-workers with corresponding email domains to exchange itineraries and recommendations away from the eyes of the general TripIt user, sidestepping some of the privacy and confidentiality concerns that continue to give pause to travel management stakeholders when it comes to dealing with the influence of social media sites.

 

Indeed, the open sharing of company travel itineraries and preferred supplier information on consumer-oriented social media sites has been reported in industry media as a widespread concern for corporate travel managers. Still, there is a growing recognition that being able to share information with colleagues through a social media platform has significant advantages for travel management.

 

More than 52 percent of survey respondents indicated that traveller satisfaction benefits from the informal exchange of information that a social media platform offers. Nearly 42 percent of respondents said that travel managers could also benefit by listening to feedback about traveler needs. Almost 36 percent cited social media platforms as a way to refine preferred supplier choices based on traveler input.

 

 

(Source: Eyefortravel.com)

 

 

Bookmark and Share

 

^ back to top

 

Find the best deals available today

The grey menu on the right is your best friend. Always check before you travel.

Plan your trips with the help of great resources

More and more travellers think that researching and planning a European city break is half the fun and they're not interested in pre-arranged trips or escorted tours. Self-guided tours offer a lot of advantages but require some guidance and good resources.

 

Clean, green and very pristine

Top 10 most environmentally pure countries

With the recent wild fires, disrupting flights and increasing air pollution, environmental quality is a growing factor in attracting tourists.

 

Rooftop

Top 15 most spectacular hotel rooftop views

The hotel price comparison site www.trivago.co.uk has put together a list of the fifteen most spectacular hotel rooftop terraces in the world.

Latest offers, discounts and more...

Accor “3=2 offer”
Why not extend your stay? 3 nights for the price of 2.
Columbus Direct travel insurance
Quality cover at low prices to customers all around the world.
Priority pass
Access VIP lounges no matter where which airline and class you fly.
European City Cards
See more and pay less! Get your "passport" to European cities.
Rail Europe
Comfortable and affordable on European trains.
Lonely Planet Magazine
Packed with insider knowledge, hints and tips.
Sandemans New Europe City Tours
Free walking tours in 13 cities within 9 countries.
Sol Melia Wednesdays
Search your exclusive special offers now for the coming weekend!
Transfers
Low-cost shuttle and private transfers in over 70 countries.
IMEX Frankfurt 25-27 May
The essential worldwide exhibition for incentive travel, meetings and events.
Subscribe to Travelio News Summary via RSS Follow our news titles on Twitter Become a fan of Travelio.net on Facebook Bookmark and Share