Business travel is back. The benefits of being a business traveler are not.
For years, she flew nonstop between Washington, D.C., and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where her company is located. Now, due to airline route cuts, she has to make a stop in Charlotte, North Carolina, and ticket prices are up 34 percent over 2019. “I’ve had to forgo my strategy of sticking to one airline and have been booking whatever flight gets me to where I need to be on time and for the best price.
At many airports, for instance, some club lounges are still closed and the open ones are packed. Frequent business travelers who are used to striding past gate hold rooms and directly to the airline club lounge for free food, drinks, desk space, and places to nap or shower, may struggle to find a place to sit down or be turned away altogether.
With record numbers of leisure travelers making up for lost time, hotel demand is way up, too. But due to labor shortages, rates have soared and reservations can be harder to come by, he said. “In some cases, hotels are not making all their rooms available because they don’t have enough staff to clean them.”
With virtual meetings an ever-present option, unhappy business travelers, who typically pay full fare, could cost the industry as it tries to bounce back. Before the pandemic, business travel made up 20 percent of trip volume, but accounted for 40-60 percent of all lodging, rental car and airline revenue in the U.S., according to the“The airlines and hotels understand the value of these loyalty relationships,” Daher said.
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