Organizations are constantly trying to provide a travel experience that makes a business trip as successful and productive as possible. As much as businesses work at it, the exact formula has not been discovered yet.

Recently, La Quinta by Wyndham – a trusted hotel brand among career commuters for more than 50 years – along with esteemed entrepreneur and investor on hit television series Shark Tank, Robert Herjavec, got a little closer to finding that formula. The partners published the findings to the brand’s first-ever “La Quinta Means Business” national survey and the results highlighted the behaviors, quirks and realities business travelers face.

In the new survey results, La Quinta sheds light on business travel questions, such as how many travelers unpack their suitcase, the latest they’ve stayed up prepping for meetings, number of people who have stocked up at the hotel breakfast bar and more.

La Quinta is using these insights to improve the guest experience and help travelers succeed while on the road. This study contains compelling insights and here are a few worth highlighting.

Home Away From Home

• The bare necessities: Sixty-four percent of business travelers think it would be harder to go without high-speed Wi-Fi than clean underwear on a business trip.
• A type A traveler: Forty percent of business travelers unpack their suitcases and put things in the closet or dresser.
• Rest assured: Forty-three percent of business travelers married or in a relationship prefer to sleep in a hotel bed they have all to themselves the night before a big meeting.

Road Fuel

• But first, coffee: Thirty-four percent of business travelers say drinking coffee or tea is one of the most important ways to prepare for work while traveling.
• Deep pockets: Nearly four in five (79%) business travelers have stocked up on food from the hotel breakfast bar to eat later in the day.
• Hungry for success: More than a third (35%) of business travelers have had their stomachs grumble during a meeting or presentation.

Points & Priorities

• Pets: Thirty percent of business travelers think that finding care for their pet(s) is among the biggest hassles to deal with when preparing to travel for business, while 23% think that finding care for their child(ren) is among the biggest hassles.
• Happy birthday to me: Eighty-one percent of business travelers say they’ve missed a special event, such as birthdays or holidays, due to business travel.
• Loyal as the day is long: The majority of business travelers (59%) say they’d never stay in a hotel when traveling for work where they could not earn rewards points.

The results of this survey come at an opportune time after GBTA when many travel buyers and suppliers are energized to make meaningful changes in 2020 and beyond.  Find out more about the survey and the results here.

About the Survey

For more information, visit www.lq.com. The “La Quinta Means Business” survey was conducted by Wakefield Research between March 13 and March 19, 2019, using an email invitation and on online survey among 1,000 U.S. business travelers ages 35–54, defined as those traveling for business 10-plus times per year.

This blog was developed in partnership with La Quinta by Wyndham.