Whilst away on business trips, the last thing workers want to return to after a hard day’s work is a dirty room and a unfriendly staff. Knowing that you’ll have access to a consistent standard of hotel room is high on many workers’ list of priorities, which could explain why so many British business travellers return to the same brands again and again.
According to the 2015 Global Traveller survey from Egencia, the business travel company, sticking to their favourite hotel brands when travelling on business is common for over half (54%) of Brits, with 53% ignoring conference or event organisers’ recommendations to stay at their favourite hotel chain. An additional 52% even admitted to booking their favourite hotel even if it isn’t located near to their desired destination.
It appears free wifi was also a major feature business travellers look for when booking, with 53% expressing discontent at the idea of having to pay for internet access. A 24-hour full-service business centre was another must have for 29% of workers.
The survey also highlighted the most popular frustrations for British business travellers; for example 18% get annoyed by queues at hotel front desks. A large number of problems also arise from online booking processes, with 36% of business travellers citing their top frustration as not being able to book a room on the required date, 26% expressing discontent with their being too many choices and 25% lamenting not being able to view the location of a hotel in relation to their destination..
And it seems there is a high cost attached to upsetting Brits abroad. Whilst many business travellers stayed tight lipped on their trip, many took to the internet to leave a negative review, with up to 57% complaining about dirty rooms and 44% about unfriendly customer service. With so many people using the internet to give feedback and reviews on hotels, it’s no wonder that 93% of business travellers do their research by looking at more than one website before booking their hotel.
Graham Kingsmill, managing director of Egencia UK, commented: “Travelling for business, especially for frequent travellers, can be more hassle than it needs to be, so it’s no surprise that British travellers enjoy the familiarity of the same hotel or hotel brand. It’s therefore to be expected that substandard services create a wave of frustration amongst workers.”
Evidently hotels that want to build up a committed customer base need to up their game. 
