Expedia Study: Millennials Are The Future of Travel

Expedia and Egencia teamed up to complete a study about the role of millennials in shaping the future of travelers. The final product, the Future of Travel Report, "was conducted across five continents, asking 8,535 employed adults in 24 countries about how they conduct business and lesiure travel - their likes, dislikes, preferences and pet peeves. The study aim to discover how millennials will impact the travel landscape as they gain decision-making power at work and purchase power in their personal lives."

www.expedia.com

The study uncovered a wide range of interesting facts, here are a few of my favorites:

• When traveling on business, 83% of respondents worldwide feel that they should be personally entitled to travel rewards points. Globally, workers under the age of 45 surveyed tend to feel more entitled to their points than older employees.

• The study found that younger travelers were freer with their company's money when traveling. Globally, business travelers aged 18-30 more frequently report that they will spend more of their company's money on high-end meals (42%) than they would their own money compared to those aged 45-65 (26%). Millennials are also fans of room service: 37% would spend more of their company's money on room service, verus only 21% of 46-65 year-olds. Younger Americans (35 and under) are slighly more likely to spend company money on a flight upgrade to business-or first-class than are their old peers (35 and older). They are slighly more likely to spend company money on high-end meals, room service and wine/alcohol, although not significant. 

• Millennials are comfortable mixing business with please. They are more likely to extend a business trip into a personal vacation than older employees are. 62% of 18-30 year olds have done so, vs 51% of 31-45 years olds and 37% of 46-65 years olds. Younger Americans and Canadians are more likely to do this.

• Millennials are also more likely to voice their displeasure. 18-30 year old business travelers are likeliest to post a negative review online, as it relates to their experience with hotels, restaurants, flights, public transportation, taxis and rental cars. Negative reviews are still relatively rate, however; 67% of travelers worldwide have never done so. Reviews themselves are considered highly important for both business and lesuire travel, particularly among Millennials as; eight in ten (77% and 82% respectively) 18-30 year olds worldwide consider travel reviews to be "very important" or "somewhat important." This sentiment holds true across a majority of all age groups and regions.

Unfortunately, I could not find the entire study. The information above is from the executive study and press release. However, nothing in the study was all the surprising. Yes, Millennials will be shape the future of travel, because the world is becoming increasing more global. This global nature of business is requiring more business travel and the likely candidates for such travel are members of the Millenial generation.

Do you agree with the study?

Here is a great graphic that summaries the study:

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