Travelling for business, with all its colourful, cultural experiences, is both exciting and challenging for employees. It has the potential to be fulfilling and even life-changing for those who experience the best of it. At Homelike, we’ve researched the ins and outs of business travel to find out what tickles European business travellers’ taste buds and discovered some surprising insights into what travellers are looking for from business travel trips.
1. Experiences are the real business in business travel for millennials
A study by Harris Group found that 72 percent of millennials prefer to spend more money on experiences than on material things and business travel is no different. In line with what millennials want, the future of the workplace sees business travel as something that they would like to experience over a longer period of time, giving them the opportunity to really understand and get a feel for a place, not simply dip their toes in and leave.
Almost 3 quarters of Germans aged 18 to 30 prefer long-term travel, as do 65% of French people the same age. Across Europe the main reason for this is that younger business travellers like making themselves ‘a home away from home’ for a longer period of time.
2. Short-term stays are a hit for the Brits
Interestingly Brits are the least interested in long term travel and would rather stay at home. A recent survey found that 62% of the UK population only speak English, which explains the cultural barrier that many Brits may face in a city with an unfamiliar language. As well as this reasoning, many people said they mostly prefer their culture back home – bangers and mash for dinner it is!
3. Women are all about amenities, please
While men say they miss their family and friends the most when they’re away from home for business, women said that what they missed most was local amenities and their house. While moving a whole house across seas and borders is er, impossible, making yourself at home in a new one is a less catastrophic task thanks to recent tech innovations such as Homelike.
More good news for women is that the ability to select accommodation close to the amenities that matter to them is now possible; whether its a swimming pool, local grocery store or post office – woman can sit back and relax in the knowledge they are not far from the amenities most useful to them; settling for stodgy hotel meals and the lousy weights in the basement gym is so 2000.
4. Spanish travellers want a casa away from casa
For the Spanish, home comes hand in hand with that comfy couch, a television and a stove to cook that paella when friends and family come over… At Homelike we know that feeling at home is what matters most to travellers and encourage businesses to offer their employees furnished apartments with all the familiarities of home when they’re travelling. We like to think like the Spanish business traveller, you should have a home away from home.
If you’re interested in how the French feel about furnished apartments, what gets people from the UK excited about business travel and much more, you can download our Report on The State of European Business Travel in 2019, here.
