I am having way too much fun with the information on travel predictions shared by Executive Travel. We now move onto part 3!
Airfares Cost Less (Well, Sort Of): Go on a 3-day business trip and expect your airline ticket to eat up only 30% of your budget. A 3-day trip will average $400 for car rental, $600 for hotel and $300 for meals. Airfare will be around $500. This means that you can no longer use airfare as a gauge for overall cost.
Taxis are Less Taxing: Car rental taxes can add up to 60% to the cost of renting a car. This, along with the cost of parking is going to deem certain destinations as Taxi-Only. Here is your Taxi-Only City List; Boston, NYC, Washington DC, San Francisco and Newark, NJ.
Let Me Entertain You: Airports get that they have a captured audience. Even if you have 4 hours before your next flight, you will more than likely stay put at the airport. There is shopping, dining and Starbucks, but expect to see even more in the way of spas, movie theaters, and even amusement parks!
Add “Get a Travel Agent” to Your To-Do List: Because it’s all the rage! Everybody’s doing it! Oh, and they save you time, money, worry and make trip planning very easy.
Where Have all the Ugly Americans Gone?: Who cares! We have the reputation of being the most kind, best tipping, friendly, law abiding travelers on the planet. Yay us!
“Open Bookings” is Closed: Back in 2013, business travelers could make their own reservations, aka “open bookings.” In other words, while the corporate cats were away, the manager mice, motivated by frequent flyer miles and hotel points, did play. It cost companies millions. The moral of the story is, the corporate cat is back and “open bookings” is closed.
And may I add in my one of my own very special travel predictions –
Animals Join the Travel Industry Workforce: Okay, maybe not en masse, but this little dog is doing a heck of a job!
Happy day to you, Meeting Managers!
