What do business travelers need in a hotel?

Internet access is vital for business travelers for both professional and personal reasons. It's important to be able to fire off a quick email to confirm your attendance at a meeting or to quickly check in with loved ones before a business dinner. Having to spend ten minutes registering your details and pulling out your credit card every time you want an internet connection is not just frustrating. It's impractical and a waste of time on an already busy day. Get your business trips off to a good start by picking hotels with free, high speed, and reliable Wi-Fi connectivity throughout the building.

If you want to set your corporate travelers up for success, they don't need to spend their flight worrying about accessing their room. After a long haul journey arriving at a hotel only to have to wait for assistance or rely on mobile apps for check-in is demoralizing. Whether they are arriving or departing, business travelers need human support to efficiently check-in and out of their hotel. Ensuring their accommodation has a staffed reception that is open 24/7 not only sets the scene for a successful trip it's also an essential factor in your duty of care towards your employees.

It goes without saying that a hotel's location can have a considerable impact on a business trip. But there is no hard and fast rule for finding the ideal spot. For example, short hops with an early return flight might benefit from being closer to the airport. In comparison, travelers with an itinerary packed with meetings might need to be more strategic. Pick the wrong side of town in Manhattan, for example, and your traveler will waste tonnes of time and money on cab fares getting between meetings. Selecting a location around schedules or implementing a system where business travelers can have autonomy over their arrangements is the easiest way to guarantee they have the best base for their trip.

Having access to a knowledgeable concierge service can really assist your team members as they get to grips with a new city. Corporate travelers' have packed schedules, so if they need to arrange a lunch meeting on the fly, they need help! Concierges have local knowledge that can help travelers out in a bind. Business travelers don't have the time or the inside scoop to work out what restaurant will impress that important client. Concierges can assist with recommendations and making reservations and can be a real asset if plans change on the ground.

With our lives becoming increasingly digital, it might be easy to overlook the importance of a business center when sifting through hotel options. While we might no longer rely on faxes or need to print out our boarding passes, choosing a base with business facilities can assist corporate guests in other ways. From meeting rooms to events planning, if your employee needs to host a client in a pinch, having a hotel with business facilities could remove a lot of hassle.

Especially in a destination like London or New York City, having a chauffeur service you can pre-book can be a lifesaver. Imagine heading to that critical pitch, and it starts pouring with rain. The last thing you need is to be frantically trying to hail a cab or turn up looking bedraggled. Additionally, if your business traveler is due to arrive late at night, they shouldn't be hopping into a car rental and driving into town. Knowing you can prepay for a hotel’s chauffeur service and guarantee a safe ride provides peace of mind for travelers and travel managers alike.

After a long day, sometimes all you want is to grab dinner and hit a comfortable bed. As a travel manager, the last thing you want is to have your staff members wandering around trying to find somewhere to eat late at night. Having a decent restaurant or 24-hour room service in their hotel is another vital function in your company's duty of care towards traveling employees, especially when they arrive on late night flights. Plus, as we will see, having another space to unwind outside their room can help provide a better travel experience for your travelers.

In addition to having ample desk space in their room, choosing a hotel with alternative workspaces can be of great benefit to business travelers. Increasingly boutique hotel brands offer co-working spaces within their walls to ensure business guests have a dedicated area to tackle tasks and network during their stay. But even an onsite coffee shop or lounge with enough power outlets to hunker down and answer emails can offer much-needed respite. Having a change of scene from client meetings or their hotel rooms can help business travelers re-energize and feel more inspired to tackle their inbox or prepare for that big pitch.