Mobile Overtakes Desktop as Preferred Hotel Booking Device for Millennial Business Travelers

When it comes to millennial business travelers, businesses clearly need to refocus their efforts on mobile as the primary booking platform. New Phocuswright research found that millennial business travelers (18-34) are booking almost half of their new airline reservations – and over half of their new hotel bookings – on smartphones. This shift is dramatic and has implications for all parts the business travel market. Since ease of use drives adoption, businesses, TMCs and travel suppliers need to focus on their mobile offerings if they want to capture (and please) this segment of the market.

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This shift to mobile has impacted managed travel programs in general, with nearly half of mobile reservations going to either OTAs or supplier sites, according to Phocuswright's The U.S. Business Traveler: Debunking Common Myths About Corporate Travel. The smartphone is the platform of choice not only for research, but for bookings as well. With the rise in app usage, some mobile traveler bookings may be hidden from traditional corporate travel measurements – which may have led to the surprisingly high mobile numbers exposed in the survey.

Get more insight on the impact of technology on business traveler behaviors with Phocuswright's The U.S. Business Traveler: Debunking Common Myths About Corporate Travel. This report is immediately available to Global Edition seatholders.

Curious to learn about how leisure and business travelers book on mobile?
See the keynote of HotelTonight's Sam Shank (along with 16 of the most promising early-stage startups) at Battleground: The Americas on September 12 in Sunnyvale, California.