Egencia Releases 2012 Forecast for Business Travel

PARIS, LONDON, MUNICH and BRUSSELS, October 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Findings show average ticket prices and average daily rates worldwide
will be slightly up

Egencia^®, an Expedia, Inc. company, today unveiled its 2012 Corporate Travel Forecast and Hotel Negotiability Index, finding that airline average ticket prices (ATPs) and hotel average daily rates (ADRs) for top corporate travel destinations will be slightly up overall in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. After a year of decreased negotiability in 2011, Egencia's Hotel Negotiability Index suggests that corporations will continue to face a weak to moderate negotiating environment in 2012. Additionally, Egencia surveyed more than 250 travel buyers in Europe and North America regarding cost control measures, travel spend, technology trends and overall expectations for 2012.

Based on Egencia's 2012 Global Corporate Travel Forecast, ATPs overall for business travellers to top business travel destinations are expected to be:

• Slightly up (4%) for European points-of-sale
• Slightly up (4%) for North American points-of-sale
• Slightly to moderately up (6%) for Asia-Pacific points-of-sale

The hotel environment continues to show signs of year-on-year growth relative to increased corporate demand, resulting in improved hotel occupancy worldwide.  In key destinations for 2012, Egencia forecasts average daily rate increases in:

• Europe (up 2%)
• North America (up 5%)
• Asia-Pacific (up 7%)

"As of today, we haven't seen business travel slowing down for our clients. During these uncertain economic times, companies remain cautious but, so far, haven't shown willingness to reduce overall travel spend. That being said, they are ready to take action if needed," said Christophe Peymirat, Vice President, Global Marketing, Egencia. "The objective of our annual forecast is to provide companies with insights that can be leveraged to positively influence their 2012 planning and negotiations. So they can effectively save in the coming year." 

You'll find below the Europe Outlook including ATPs, ADRs, Advance Purchase Advisory, Hotel Negotiability, Travel Management Trends, in terms of top strategies for maintaining or controlling travel costs, mobile, social media and traveller duty of care.

For full study: https://www.egencia.co.uk/public/uk/en/promotion/landing-forecasts-2012/?Campaign_ID=701200000004JGo

Europe Outlook

"Next year, air and lodging trends will be moving upwards, so the negotiating climate will be challenging for buyers," said Germain Huber, Vice President Supplier Relations & Consulting, Egencia Europe. "That being said, there is still room for savings by leveraging the negotiating power of a TMC, booking airline tickets in advance, requiring pre-trip approvals or enforcing travel policies rigorously. And this is where Egencia technology turns out to be very helpful."

ATPs

European businesses are slowly increasing travel demand both domestically and internationally; air prices for business travel will remain slightly up for flights to top business destinations with a few notable exceptions, including Paris, Marseille, Frankfurt, and Milan.

Advance Purchase Advisory

Egencia's Advance Purchase Advisory informs travel managers and business travellers of the best booking timeframe and possible savings for advance air ticket purchases. The advisory shows that, for the majority of destinations, business travellers should book 22 days or more in advance to realise maximum savings. Booking in advance to Frankfurt and Stockholm, for example, can save as much as 47 percent compared to last-minute bookings. Additional destinations where the 22 day window nets significant savings are Munich (46%), Marseille (45%), Paris, Brussels and Lyon (44%).

Charts below illustrate projected year-over-year 2012 vs. 2011 ATP and advanced purchase projections in the local currency in selected business travel destinations around the world for European points of sale.

    Average Ticket Prices
 
    Market List          ATP YoY      Advanced Purchase Savings
    Amsterdam               3%                       40%
    Barcelona               4%                       30%
    Berlin                  9%                       39%
    Brussels                4%                       44%
    Dublin                  4%                       31%
    Frankfurt              -1%                       47%
    Glasgow                 9%                       21%
    London                  5%                       39%
    Lyon                    2%                       44%
    Madrid                  4%                       41%
    Manchester              3%                       33%
    Marseille              -4%                       45%
    Milan                  -1%                       42%
    Moscow                  8%                       30%
    Munich                  8%                       46%
    Paris                  -2%                       44%
    Stockholm               0%                       47%
    Chicago                 8%                       19%
    Los Angeles            11%                       11%
    New York               15%                       16%
    San Francisco           9%                       19%

ADRs

In general, average daily rates (ADRs) are forecast to be slightly up overall in Europe, with the largest increases in Moscow (up 9%) and Stockholm (up 8%) leading the way. Other cities are showing flat to slight ADR growth, including Berlin (flat), and Paris (up 2%).

Charts below illustrate projected year-over-year 2012 vs. 2011 ADR and negotiability projections in the local currency in selected business travel destinations around the world for European points of sale.

    Average Daily Rates
    Market List        ADR YoY      Neg Index
    Amsterdam            -2%          Strong
    Barcelona             2%          Moderate
    Berlin                0%          Moderate
    Brussels              0%          Moderate
    Dublin                2%          Weak
    Frankfurt            -2%          Strong
    Glasgow               4%          Moderate
    London*               2%          Weak
    Lyon                 -3%          Strong
    Madrid                2%          Moderate
    Manchester            1%          Moderate
    Marseille             2%          Moderate
    Milan                -2%          Strong
    Moscow                9%          Weak
    Munich                3%          Moderate
    Paris                 2%          Moderate
    Stockholm             8%          Weak

Supply Outlook: Hotel Negotiability

Egencia's Hotel Negotiability Index, an indicator of the overall supply landscape in top European cities, suggests that 2012 will continue to be a seller's market for hotels, although not as widespread as 2011. The cities with the greatest opportunities for negotiations are Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Milan; while London, Dublin, Lyon and Moscow will have weak negotiability.

Charts below illustrate projected year-over-year 2012 vs. 2011 ADR and negotiability projections in the local currency in selected business travel destinations around the world for European points of sale.

Travel Management Trends

Egencia surveyed more than 250 travel buyers in Europe and North America regarding cost control measures, travel spend, technology trends and expectations for 2012. According to survey respondents, 43 percent of European buyers (versus 23 percent last year) and 42 percent of North American buyers (percentage is flat year-over-year) have slightly or significantly increased travel over the last six months, signaling a continued rise in overall travel demand.

The top strategies for maintaining or controlling travel costs in Europe include:

• Advanced booking of airline tickets (51% )
• Requiring pre-trip approval (49%)
• Enforcing policy more rigorously (46%)
• Encouraging the use of web conferencing (39%)

Mobile

Mobile devices are becoming increasingly important to today's travel managers, with 80 percent of European respondents saying that mobile devices/functionalities are moderately important to very important to their travel programmes. Respondents identified the following as the most important uses for mobile technology during business travel.

• Online check-in (77%)
• Check flight status (68%)
• Urgent destination/flight alerts (56%)
• Paperless boarding (56%)

Social Media

While mobile device use continues to gain popularity amongst travel managers and their travellers, social media appears to be a lesser priority with 78 percent of European travel managers saying they do not use social media tools to communicate with their travellers. This number is anticipated to decrease as mobile and social continue to become increasingly symbiotic.

Traveller Duty of Care

Over half (52 percent) of European respondents cited they have a formal traveller duty of care programme (security programme) in place for their travellers, compared to only 38 percent in North America.

For more details, you can download the full "2012 Corporate Travel Forecast and Hotel Negotiability Index", including North America and Asia-Pacific Outlooks as well as considerations for travel buyers here: https://www.egencia.co.uk/public/uk/en/promotion/landing-forecasts-2012/?Campaign_ID=701200000004JGo

For further insights and additional data, please see contact below.

Research Methodology

Data and insight based on the statistical analysis of the past and present industry trends, macroeconomic factors, market research and vendors' capacity forecasts for 2012. Smith Travel Research (STR) and OAG filings were leveraged for a market-level analysis of both Lodging and Air capacity. ARC, STR and Egencia Internal Data were used for market-level analysis of pricing.

Disclaimer

This data refers to business destinations and business travel pricing. These projections are based on Egencia analysis of data from OAG, ARC, STR and Expedia, Inc. The forecast represents an opinion based on current market factors and is not a representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the forecasts or projections made herein. Actual changes in ticket prices and hotel rates could vary significantly from forecasted numbers, impacted by unforeseen future economic and political factors. 

About Egencia, an Expedia, Inc. Company

Egencia is the fifth largest travel management company in the world. As part of Expedia, Inc., (NASDAQ: EXPE), the world's largest travel marketplace, Egencia helps businesses get ahead by offering the only truly integrated corporate travel service. Egencia's industry expertise helps drive results that matter, delivering meaningful advancements that have a real impact. By combining a powerful offline and online service, Egencia delivers a complete corporate travel offering supported by global market expertise and a best-in-class technology platform.

For more information, go to http://www.egencia.co.uk

Egencia and the Egencia logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.© 2011 Egencia, LLC.  All rights reserved. CST # 2083922-50

SOURCE Egencia