When modern day business travellers hit the road, they are usually armed with three or four mobile devices.
This is the main finding of a new survey by Starwood’s Four Points by Sheraton brand, which also found that business travellers are more likely to carry a tablet than a laptop and prefer to call home via video chat from their hotel room.
“The Four Points study contains compelling results, including evidence that trends such as staying in touch with family via video chat – preferred even over email, text and phone – are accelerating,” said Brian McGuinness, Starwood’s Senior Vice President of Specialty Select Brands. “While hotel business centres remain important, the study affirms that the Four Points brand is meeting a continued need by offering complimentary Wi-Fi or in-room internet access, and by continuing to expand bandwidth throughout the portfolio.”
Other key findings in the survey include the revelation that most business travellers use three to four mobile devices when on the road. Smartphones were found to be the number one device, carried by 74% of business travellers, followed by tablets (65%), music players (43%) and laptops (32%). The impact of smartphones is also underlined by the discovery that after landing, the majority (54%) turn on their smartphone while the plane is still taxiing, while 12% admit to never turning it off in the first place. The remaining respondents wait until they’re in the terminal or taxi (17% each).
Checking their smartphone is also the first thing respondents do when they wake up in their hotel (36%). Only 19% turn on the TV first and 18% take a shower.
Tablets were also found to be more popular than laptops. According to the study, 68% of business travellers use their tablet more often than their laptop, and a similar number (69%), if told they could take only one of the two on the road, would choose to travel with their tablet.
For most respondents, the primary purpose of travelling with mobile devices is to keep up with email on the road (90%). This is followed by internet browsing and social networking (75%), and communication with the office (73%).
To communicate with family and friends back home, the majority of business travellers prefer to video chat/conference (67%) versus sending an email or picking up the phone (47% each). Instant messaging or texting is the least popular means (37%).
The Four Points by Sheraton study polled 6,000 business travellers in the China, India, the US, UK, Germany and Brazil.
