travel, hotel and booking Information

Survey Finds American Business Travelers Like Online Booking, But a Third Still Use 'Offline' Channels

Hotel Booking American business travelers continue to use the Internet to book travel, yet many of them still use 'offline' services when making itinerary changes, according to findings from a new survey of American business travelers with online access.

Groople (www.groople.com), the leader in group travel planning, has partnered with Go10000, a travel focused development and hosting firm, to bring to market a new group collaboration site for the travel space. GroopVine will provide the solution to the complex communication and booking problems group travel planning can create. Enhancing the online travel space by combining the key elements of social networking such as invitations, forums, messaging, photos and video posting, with the best in online travel booking, GroopVine is the only place for group travelers to shop, plan and book together online.

Travel Agency The survey was commissioned by Travelport Corporate Solutions. Conducted by Harris Interactive, the survey found that although more than half (52%) of American business travelers book their business travel online, one-third (33%) still use 'offline' channels such as traditional travel agents to make or amend their business travel reservations.

Groople, based in Denver, was created by more than 20 experienced leaders from every area of the travel industry with the goal of becoming the place for leisure group travelers to book the best, free deals. Groople serves military groups, family reunions, religious organizations and other leisure customers at www.Groople.com and through its offline agents while helping suppliers by giving consumers access to hotel inventory. Groople's automated group booking system gives travel planners the ability to plan, book and manage all aspects of their group trips online, including travel, hotel bookings and event planning, payment, tracking, registering for events, and more. Special requests and more complex needs such as booking banquet facilities, food and beverage and planning unique group activities are handled by phone with Groople's team of experienced group planners.

Cheap Hotel While the number of companies offering online self-booking as part of their corporate travel programs continues to grow, many employees are not taking advantage of the more efficient, less expensive online tools. In the survey, Travelport measured American business traveler opinion of booking options and examined the reasons travelers choose more expensive offline services. Results point to the options valued by business travelers and suggest the type of online or automated features needed to ensure traveler satisfaction while maintaining savings.

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Flight Booking Accessing Offline Services
Survey results identified key reasons why American business travelers using online services to book a trip also access offline services:
The desire to have a person confirm what is booked online is actually booked - 49%
While on the road or at the last minute it's too difficult to update plans online - 32%
Online booking cannot address some specific travel needs - 29%

13%-16% of all used books are sold online, compared to 2.5% 3% 63% of booksellers in the survey opened their business within the last five years

Travel Agent "Online self-booking delivers savings for corporate travel, but this survey identifies specific situations when business travelers prefer to go offline, thereby negating a portion of those savings," said Travelport vice president of product and marketing, Charlotte Blackwell. "With up to a third of travelers choosing to go 'offline,' this suggests travel management companies must provide faster and easier-to-use online and automated options that instill confidence in the user while meeting their real world needs. Innovation through technology will ultimately maximize savings and efficiency."

Groople, the leading online group travel planning and booking site, announces the launch of an exciting travel and social networking tool, offering an integrated solution for the challenges of planning and booking group travel. GroopVine will allow users to create their own personalized trip page to plan, create, share, shop and buy travel with their entire group's input every step of the way. Providing helpful tools from event schedules and suggested itineraries to RSS feeds and online surveys, GroopVine makes group travel planning fun, collaborative and easy.

Hotel Chicago To meet these demands, Travelport developed an integrated and flexible business travel solution that delivers online booking capabilities and agency services while maintaining savings for the corporate customer. For example, Travelport customers see all flight options, including web fares and sold out flights, when viewing online search results. This increases understanding of availability by presenting a full set of results in a single, integrated display, minimizing the need to call an agent in attempts to find flights they might not otherwise be able to view.

Online Booking Additionally, companies like Travelport are innovating new features such as online interactive assistance to quickly answer traveler questions while booking or changing itineraries. This ensures travelers get what they want quickly within the online environment.

Travel Health Insurance Opinion of Online Booking for Business Travel
The Travelport survey measured American business traveler opinion of online booking to find out what motivates them to use it when arranging travel or changing an itinerary. Primarily related to productivity, the findings include:
55% like the speed and ease-of-use of online self-booking for arranging their business travel
19% like having their personal information like frequent flyer numbers and supplier preferences pre-loaded in booking process
15% like booking online because they are able to do so outside of office hours.

Hotel Reservation Travelport also asked business travelers with online access what features might make them more likely to book business travel online most or all the time:
Speed and reliability of online tool - 37%
Ability to confidently make changes or capture special needs accurately - 33%
Guaranteed access to my preferred airlines, hotels and car rental companies - 30%
All flight options displayed on one page - 28%
A perk or award provided by employer for consistently using the online booking system- 20%

London Hotel Booking "The survey findings show that business travelers want speed, reliability, high quality content and personalization in their online business travel services," said Blackwell. "We believe the best solution is found in a completely integrated program like Travelport's "end-to-end" solution of Travelport Online Booking, Galileo GDS and Travelport Fulfillment. Services provided by a single source offer greater savings, more accountability and user-friendly features that follow the traveler through every step of his or her trip." "The winning model for corporate customers and travelers alike is a business-focused, flexible system that takes advantage of technology to meet the need for savings and service," said Blackwell. "That is only possible if you truly understand what motivates business travelers, and these survey results point to trends and behaviors that may be key in shaping effective business travel solutions."

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