Find out how business stay trends have changed from 2019 to 2023 with our in-depth data analysis.
Since a new type of travel industry emerged in 2023, travel trends and travel behaviour have changed for corporate travellers.
Booking.com for Business aims at making business travel easier for everyone. One way we do this is by helping you understand the trends and data that shape your travel experience. We studied how corporate travellers’ behaviour has changed regarding stays by diving deep into length of stay, property type and facilities data. We looked at data from customers who indicated travelling for business purposes in the first half of 2019 and compared them with data for the same period in 2023.
This is what this data reveals:
Business travellers stayed significantly longer in 2023.
One of the biggest trends that our data shows is that travellers in general booked longer stays in the first half of 2023 than in the first half of 2019. Business travellers stayed 4.76% longer on average in the first half of 2023 than in the first half of 2019, which can be explained by the fact that corporate travellers and companies want more for their money. For this reason, they might have preferred opting for longer stays to compensate for higher airfares, for example.
The Middle East (+12.5%), Europe (+10%) and North America (+8.3%) were particularly affected by the increase in number of nights that business travellers stayed in the first half of 2023 compared to the first half of 2019.
At a country level, France (+11,1%), Germany and Spain (+10.5%) as well as the US and Canada (+9%) saw business travellers increase the duration of their stays significantly. In Italy and Great Britain, business travellers stayed on average respectively 5.2% and 5.2% longer in the first half of 2023 than in the first half of 2019.
Business travellers have specific preferences regarding property types they like to stay at. Let’s see how these patterns have changed from 2019 to 2023.
Our data shows that hotels were still the preferred type of property for global business travellers. In fact, 71.6% of business travellers in 2023 chose to stay at a hotel. But the proportion of business travellers booking hotels decreased by 2% between the first half of 2019 and the first half of 2023.
Apartments were the second most booked type of property for global business travellers and it stands out that they stayed longer in apartments than they did in any other property type, with an average of 3.5 nights in the first half of 2023.
Business travellers around the world booked apartments on average 3.1% more in the first half of 2023 than in the first half of 2019.
A key business trend that we observed is that business travellers stayed 13% longer in apartments in the first half of 2023 than they did in the first half of 2019, showing that this type of property is being increasingly appreciated by the business world. In comparison, the average duration of their stay at hotels hasn’t changed. During the pandemic, companies relied on serviced apartments to avoid having their employees being surrounded by people and this trend is here to stay. This can be one of the many reasons why we’re seeing longer stays at apartments.
In the US specifically, we noticed specific trends. The preference of business travellers for hotels increased by 2% over the 2019-2023 period. Just as in the rest of the world, hotels were the number one choice, however motels and resorts were very popular in the US.
Motels were the second most popular property type – unlike in the rest of the world – thanks to their convenient location, while resorts took third place due to their luxurious amenities, and on-site conference and event facilities. However, the preference for motels decreased by 3% and that for resorts showed a very slight decline too.
When travelling for business, travellers have specific facility needs. Let’s see what the facilities that business travellers expected from their accommodation were.
What pushes travellers to book one property over another? Our data showed that business travellers increasingly valued a property's facilities. Business travellers were at least 4% more likely in the first half of 2023 than they were in the first half of 2019 to book accommodation with the following facilities:
Guests travelling for business were 8.8% more inclined to book a place with meeting or banquet facilities. They also gave a high priority to quiet and accessible rooms and easy access to food and drinks. What business travellers want is to get their job done and be efficient.
In the US specifically, we saw a bigger increase in business traveller bookings at properties with a fitness room between 2019 and 2023. Staying active is seen as an essential part of a business traveller’s well-being, especially in the US.
At room level, the biggest increase (+4%) in bookings by business travellers revolved around rooms with connectivity options (telephone, cable channels), comfort (slippers, carpeted floor, bath) and wake-up services.
When it comes to booking a room, corporate travellers have high expectations. They like a nice private bathroom equipped with towels, a hair dryer, free toiletries, etc – and services such as a flat-screen TV and a phone.
The travel industry underwent some changes in recent years. Business travel in particular saw great increases in the number of nights per stay, and apartments are the property type that saw the greatest increase in length of stay. We can also point out the specificity of the US, as travellers stayed there longer for business purposes than they did for leisure.
Data for this article is based on global gross bookings by continent or country made for business purposes on the Booking.com platform between the first six months of 2019 and the first six months of 2023.
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