Business room nights in the UK increased substantially since 2004 from 48m to 59m.
The BDRC Hotel Guest Survey also reveals that competition among UK hotel operators is continuing to intensify with branded room supply rising by almost 50% since 2000.
Significantly, awareness and membership of hotel loyalty programmes increased from 21% in 2000 to 34% in 2007, probably as the result of heightened marketing, although BDRC questioned whether business travellers are being targeted as well as they could be.
WiFi usage has increased considerably by business travellers ” from 11% in 2005/06 to 36% in 2007/08 ” with low price more important than speed.
Some 70% of business travellers use the internet to make reservations ” a trend that has risen sharply from its 11% figure eight years ago ” with the result that telephone bookings have fallen considerably.
Internet search engines remain the most widely-used information source, with hotel chain websites also important.
Hilton is still the number one hotel brand in BDRC”s hotel brand ranking index, but of the well-established chains, Radisson has shown the largest growth.