Corporate Travel Manager

Yesterday I blogged about how the travel industry is preparing for flu season. Now I want to know, are meeting planners even concerned?

The answer is "Yes," according to a recent survey by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), but that won't stop them from hosting events. The survey found that 63 percent of travel mangers surveyed have serious concerns about the spread of H1N1 flu, but 91 percent aren't holding off on meetings and conferences because of it.

"On one hand, it is commendable that companies are not giving in to panic," ACTE Executive Director Susan Gurley said in a statement. "Yet on the other hand, this is a situation that can develop very quickly and it is very important that the appropriate arrangements be put in place."

The survey found that 34 percent of companies have a plan or instructions for travelers who may get caught up in airport screenings with flu-like symptoms. If you need some advice on getting your flu season action plan together, read my 4 Ways for Meeting Planners to Prepare for Flu Season.

Slow and steady is the motto for business travel next year, according to a recent survey by the National Business Travel Association. According to its 2010 Business Travel Buyers' Cost Forecast of 180 direct corporate travel buyers, 69 percent of respondents expect to see business travel volume "grow slowly" throughout 2010.

For meetings, 58 percent of respondents said that reducing the number of meetings is one of their measures to cut costs in 2010. However, on the bright side, this percentage is much lower than last year, when 85 percent said they would be cutting meetings.

To save money, travel buyers also cited auditing travel and entertainment expenses (84 percent), enforcing travel policies (77 percent), mandating online booking (76 percent), and reducing nonessential travel (71 percent) as their cost-cutting measures. Just over half of respondents—more than twice as many as last year—also said they would start implementing Strategic Meetings Management programs for their meeting in 2010.

In the beginning of September, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that it found flu activity had increased in the United States as compared to the previous weeks. Nearly all of the influenza viruses found were 2009 H1N1 influenza A viruses, or, as you and I more commonly know it, the swine flu.

As the Department of Health and Human Services prepares to release upwards of 50 million doses of a new vaccines for H1N1, the meeting industry is taking precautions of its own. In fact, the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) recently released a recommendation to its global membership that called for the "temporary suspension of a timeless tradition that is the basis of greetings and agreements in western civilization—the handshake." That suspension would be in effect until the H1N1 influence virus threat has been reduced to the status of a common cold.

"We have been told that the best way to impede the spread of the H1N1 flu virus is to repeatedly wash our hands, especially after touching our faces, or coming into contact with someone else’s face or hand," ACTE Executive Director Susan Gurley said in a statement. "A random polling of ACTE members has revealed it would be easier to drop the traditional handshake for the duration of the health crisis—should one develop—as opposed to sneezing or coughing into a sleeve."

Meanwhile, the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) recently released "H1N1 Influenza Management in Hotels," a guide for lodging businesses to use in managing H1N1 influenza viruses at their properties. In addition to basic sanitation practices, the guide outlines advice for employees and guests who have the H1N1 flu or other strains.

After all, being informed about the flu is one of the best ways to be prepared, according to AH&LA President and CEO Joseph A. McInerney.

"Leadership in a crisis depends on information, and this guide will help fill in the blanks about what to do," McInerney said.

Meeting planners as well as hotels can learn more about H1N1 and download the manual at AH&LA's website.

Proving that meetings mean business is not the only trend in the industry these days. As I blogged back in April, another key trend for meeting planners in 2009 is a focus on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

Though the ideas and motives behind CSR vary from organization to organization, it continues to grow in popularity. In fact, a recent study found that the number of organizations with a CSR charter rose from 59 percent in 2008 to 61 percent today.

"We have such an incredible opportunity to impact millions of people by holding meetings responsibly," Bridget Chisholm, conference manager for the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE), said in the September issue of Prevue magazine, which focuses on Corporate Social Responsibility. "It’s becoming mainstream and it’s what society wants. If a company is not conscious of the waste it produces, it’s going to eventually lose customers."

That's not an exaggeration. According a recent TBA Global white paper, 69 percent of Americans felt that companies should invest more in community projects. Additionally, a study by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) and European expense management company KDS found that about 27 percent of companies prefer to do business with suppliers and partners practicing CSR policies. 

As Peter Robinson, CEO of the David Suzuki Foundation succinctly put it, "Ethics is the new competitive environment."

As such, it's not surprising that Prevue reports that community service has experienced exponential growth in today's meetings and incentives. According to the magazine, Destination Hotels & Resorts officially inked a deal this month with Odyssey Teambuilding, a philanthropic event planning company. This provides planners a more streamlined RFP process for groups desiring a volunteer event.

Odyssey, of late, has earned major press for their teambuilding program whereby attendees build prosthetic arms for landmine victims in Asia. Participants are then connected with the individual for whom they built the particular device.

Learn more about Prevue's "Change the World" cover story, which features interviews with industry execs and  planners in Vancouver, Denver, San Jose, Virginia Beach and Riviera Maya, or sign up for complimentary subscription information at www.prevueonline.net.

First-time visitors to hotel websites aren't satisfied with what they're seeing, according to second-quarter hotel company website satisfaction scores released in a report from New York research firm IPerceptions. The report, which surveyed over 120,000 business and leisure travelers to hotel websites, found that multibrand hotel companies are failing to properly package information on their web pages to encourage bookings from business travelers.

Many corporate travelers use preferred booking tools, but will still visit hotel websites to research properties and explore amenities prior to booking, IPerceptions President and CEO Claude Gray said, according to Business Travel News. The low satisfaction rates indicate that companies need to improve how they are presenting their offerings and value.

"This industry was one of the early adopters in the late 1990s, but at some point, they stopped innovating," Guay said. "They're slapping nice coats of paint on, but they haven't changed the structure of the house."

Additionally, the report found that many travelers who book through hotel websites report problems, as 60 percent of those website visitors with an intention to book a room actually complete a reservation.

What do you think of hotel websites—are there certain features that you like or don't like? Do you usually review hotel websites before booking them for your events, even if you use a preferred booking tool like the Cvent Supplier Network?

Don't forget, on the Cvent Supplier Network, we offer photo galleries, virtual tours, and venue descriptions, plus all the pertinent details, like amount of meeting space, number of sleeping rooms, and distance from the airport, at a glance. You can find all the important venue information quickly for thousands of properties, making it easy to compare hotels  before you book a venue for your meetings.

Cvent will be attending NBTA’s International Convention & Exposition, held Sunday, August 23, through Wednesday, August 26, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Held annually, NBTA’s show is expected to see over 6,000 corporate and government travel managers. Last year’s conference in Los Angeles saw almost 6,500 attendees and over 450 exhibitors from all over the globe.

A major focus of the conference is the expo, which features over 375 exhibitors representing a mix of the top destinations and hotels as well as in-demand products and services. Cvent will be at booth 3343 during the expo, which is held Monday through Wednesday. 

In addition to the expo, a major highlight of this San Diego event is each day’s keynote speaker. Attendees at the four-day conference will hear from former President Bill Clinton, Jay Leno, Olympic Champion Dara Torres and US Airways Pilot Chesley B Sullenberger, III.

Additionally, on Tuesday, August 25, Cvent executives will be hosting a private cocktail reception at the well-known Palm Restaurant. If you would like to come to the reception, please click here to RSVP.  Or, to set up a private meeting during this tradeshow, please email Anil Punyapu, Vice President, Enterprise Sales, at apunyapu@cvent.com. For more information on Cvent, please visit www.cvent.com.

We look forward to seeing you at the 2009 NBTA Convention & Exposition in San Diego!

The Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) have announced plans to develop a "strategic alliance." Both associations will remain independent entities, but will coordinate on joint member benefits, education and research in order to benefit their respective members and expand their brands.

"This Strategic Alliance offers our organizations the opportunity to increase the size of the pie because of the synergies that exist between us," said Deborah Sexton, PCMA president and CEO, said in a statement. "The more we investigated this opportunity, the more we uncovered benefits for both memberships and our industry at large. The time has never been more opportune for the innovation that I think our industry needs."

This announcement follows the failed merger between ACTE and the National Business Travel Association (NBTA). The merger did not gain the approval of the required two-thirds of ACTE's board of directors.

The PCMA-ACTE alliance is not a merger, however. Rather it will "expand the education exchange that has been underway for nearly a year and offer the opportunity to co-locate
select events for the benefit of all members."

"There is a continuing convergence of travel professionals becoming responsible for meeting planning and meetings professionals being asked to manage travel," said 2009 PCMA Chairman of the Board John Folks. "In an increasingly complex and intertwined world, I only see upside to this unique alliance for everyone. It will absolutely add member value."

Members of these associations can expect to see value-added member access and pricing to each organization's benefits at regular member rates. Strategic Partners will see extended market research into new target markets.

A strong supporter of PCMA and ACTE, Cvent congratulates the two groups on the partnership!

Read more information about the PCMA-ACTE alliance.

It looks like the industry is welcoming the U.S. Department of Treasury's new rules regarding meeting, event, incentive and travel expenses for TARP companies.

"We are pleased that after months of discussion with the Obama Administration and our industry's full-court press on the value of meetings, events and incentives, these regulations do not do any further harm to the meetings and events marketplace," U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow said in response to the new guidelines, which were released last week. Even for companies not receiving TARP funds, the guidelines act as "reminder to companies everywhere that transparent and responsible board policies governing business meetings and events are more important now than ever."

The guidelines, among other things, requires that TARP companies adopt an "excessive or luxury expenditures policy" that includes "standards to ensure appropriate review and approval of potentially excessive and luxury expenditures." These expenditures could include "entertainment or events, office and facility renovations, aviation or other transportation services, and other similar items, activities or events."

The Treasury's proposed rule, which is subject to a public 60-day comment period, requires TARP beneficiaries to identify categories of expenditures that are prohibited; identify categories of expenditures that need approval; set up approval procedures; require reporting of violations to a designated person; and "mandate accountability for adherence" to the policy.

NBTA President Kevin Maguire expressed a similar sentiment as Dow in regards to the policy.

"NBTA is pleased that Treasury has pointed to travel management as a tool to contain costs and ensure efficient and effective corporate travel and practices," he said in a statement.

Last week my take on the swine flu and its impact on meetings and events was still kind of fuzzy: some companies were restricting corporate travel to Mexico and a few hotels were feeling minor impacts, but overall most people
seemed unnerved when it came to travel South of the Border or elsewhere.

Now the Association of Corporate Travel Executives has come out with a study that gives some hard numbers regarding to the swine flu's effects. In an initial survey of corporate travel managers, ACTE found that 37 percent of companies worldwide are either canceling meetings or restricting travelers from attending them. The majority (63 percent) have not changed their meetings program.

However, apart from meetings, not all business travel is being restricted. The survey found 47 percent of companies have restricted travel strictly to Mexico, while 1 percent said they are limiting travel to solely the United States. About 3 percent said they are restricting travel to both the United States and Mexico.

Such confidence in corporate travel likely comes from a strong feeling of preparedness.

"This initial survey of global business travel managers indicates that levels of corporate preparedness are quite high going into this crisis, with a majority of companies showing confidence in their contagion and pandemic plans," ACTE Executive Director Susan Gurley said in a statement. "Actually, preparedness levels are much higher than they were at the outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome—SARS—in 2003."

ACTE found that 62 percent of companies have a pandemic emergency plan that "covers he evacuation or hospitalization of infected travelers in a foreign country facing an outbreak of contagion." Meanwhile, 58 percent of companies have been upgrading pandemic plans on a regular basis since SARS.

More interesting research from Smith Travel today. According to recent data for five major markets—Orlando, New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, and Phoenix—transient room premiums are now discounts, meaning group rooms are more expensive than transient rooms.

This fact is not uncommon for a down market; in fact, STR notes the same occurrence post-9/11. But obviously for planners, who generally negotiate group rates based on prevailing transient rates, this trend is a problem. It's cheaper to pay for a transient room, but canceling your group room block most likely means you'll have to face hotel penalties as laid out in your contract.

So what's a planner to do? Jan Freitag, VP, global development, STR, notes in an article on HotelNewsNow that some travel managers have been approached by group hotels with offers to lower the negotiated group rate in order to match the lowest available transient room rate. This seems like an ideal scenario: planners get a great deal, and hotels avoid facing planners who cancel group rooms and rebook them individually.

But still, is it a likely scenario? Has anyone else seen a hotel taking such a proactive approach?

First the economy, now the swine flu. The meetings and travel industry has taken some rough hits over the past months. While some of it is warranted (limiting travel to Mexico), some of it was undeserved (eliminating corporate travel to so-called lavish destinations like Las Vegas). Either way, meeting planners are undoubtedly struggling to stay positive these days.

Don't use the hardships as an excuse to sit on the sidelines. In all the research I've seen and all the professional thoughts I've read, it all comes down remaining competitive. It's a proven strategy that has worked throughout history.

During the recession in the early 80s, for example, the Harvard Business Review published an article stating, "Rather than wait for business to return to normal, top executives should cash in on the opportunity that the rival companies are creating for them. The company courageous enough to stay in the fight when everyone else is playing safe can bring about a dramatic change in market position."

What's your plan for staying in the fight? I came across some interesting tips offered by CFR & Associates regarding strategies to break through in this economy. Here are a few I find particularly useful for meeting planners:

• Be passionate and excited about your business. Like Brian McGovern blogged last week, your clients and attendees expect enthusiasm. They want to be inspired to attend a meeting. A negative attitude certainly does not make for an exciting event.

• Invest in your people/employees. This really speaks to organizations holding internal events. There has been so much negative press on recognition/incentive events that planners are scared to hold them, regardless of any budget concerns. That's no way to foster a company culture that can pull through tough times.

Remember Texas Roadhouse? They hosted a big recognition event in San Francisco for all their employees in early April. They know that an investment in your people yields great returns.

• Be laser-focused on what you spend money on. If you aren't tracking your budget and implementing a meetings policy to manage your events efficiently, it's no wonder you are hesitant about your future success. If you don't know your meetings spend, you can't identify areas for cost savings, nor can you prove the ROI of your meetings to executives, stakeholders, and yourself.

• Be other-focused. When all is said and done, you can't have a meeting without attendees. It's easy to get caught up in hotel negotiations, venue sourcing, and food and beverage selection, but don't forget this critical element!

Just like you, attendees are struggling. Make it easy for them to justify registering for your event. You can do this by listening to them and providing session content and networking opportunities of value. Work with
their needs by offering volume discounts or session-only registration options.

What are your best tips for not just making it through, but actually succeeding, in today's market?

Last we blogged about declines in hotel rates, and now Ovation Travel Group has confirmed it. The travel management company recently found that hotel room rates dropped an average of 17.4 percent in the first quarter of 2009 in 30 major global destinations.

Compared to average rates in Q1 of 2008, the rates of all 12 U.S. destinations surveyed—Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC—dropped. New York City has one of the 10 global destinations that showed a year-over-year decrease of over 20 percent with a 29.6 percent drop.

Delhi, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Paris Singapore and Toronto were the other nine cities with declines of over 20 percent. Singapore hotels saw the biggest decline at 35.2 percent.

Four destinations did see an increase over 2008 rates: Abu Dhabi, Dublin, Milan and Tokyo.

In the past we blogged about how hotels are offering value add options to encourage more business from meeting planners. However, when it came to getting reduced rates on airfare or hotel rooms, you were out of luck. Until now.

It seems the industry is starting to realize it needs to offer better rates and fares or risk losing business all together. Tom Stone, founder of Sirius Management, recently told the Financial Times, "It is astonishing that some [hotels] have put forward rates that are up year-on-year. They do not seem to be aware that the boot is now on the other foot.

"Corporates are looking for reductions and I think those hotels are in for a rude shock, particularly in the five-star market. There is strong evidence that a lot of companies are downgrading from five- to four-stars."

Some planners, though, are willing to stick with certain suppliers—provided they can negotiate lower rates. According to a recent survey by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), 61 percent of travel managers have approached suppliers to renegotiate deals midway through contract periods. Of this percentage, 83 percent focused on hotel companies to find savings while 46 percent looked to airlines. About 31 percent were trying to find savings on rental cars.

When it comes to hotels, survey participants said that 44 percent of suppliers have taken the initiative to contact clients and discuss ways to cut costs. The majority (67 percent) of these approaches were from preferred hotel companies.

Travel managers may be seeing more flexibility when it comes to air providers. Chief Executive and President of Travelport Jeff Clarke told the FT, "For the first time in recent weeks, air fares have been decreasing. We have seen average fares down by 15 to 25 percent on a year ago. The average fare for travel to New York from London was down 34 percent in February compared with the same month in 2008. Sydney to Hong Kong, for example, was down 14 percent, Paris to Madrid 46 percent and Seattle to Los Angeles 29 percent."

Airlines are also seeing a huge drops in traffic volume, prompting them to offer deals when necessary.

You can find out more about how airlines and hotel companies are responding to buyers by reading the full article.

We already know the powerful effect that meetings and travel can have on the nation's economy, but what about their effect on its people? Extreme cost-saving measures could force the United States into an "intellectual depression," according to Doug Weeks, president of the Association for Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE).

At ACTE's Global Education Conference in Washington, DC, last week, Weeks revealed the results of the organization's recent survey on public perception and increased expenses. He also said that 75 percent of survey respondents have seen restricted participation in professional conferences, while 35 percent said their companies deny employees both registration fee reimbursement and time away from the office.

Such measures could limit employee's abilities to share ideas, network, and make improvements in products and services, according to Weeks.

"Hundreds of professions and corporate sectors rely on major industry conferences to advance technology, spark innovation and stimulate trade," Weeks said. "Eliminating participation in professional conferences is a short-sighted strategy that hobbles a company's ability to cope with the current crisis, while limiting the options of its key personnel, and failing to take advantage of the best rates they will ever get in the hospitality market."

What's the situation at your organization? Will employees have a tough time participating in (and traveling to) programs that further their growth?

Talk about a hotel deal! Red Lion Hotels has launched what it is calling "the industry's most ambitious corporate travel offer." Its new program promises to beat any company's existing corporate travel negotiated lodging rate by 25 percent for stays at any of the 47 Red Lion properties in the United States and Canada.

"This is a classic win-win," said Barry Hughes, SVP of Marketing and Distribution for Red Lion, in a statement. "The corporate travel planner is a hero for saving the company money while the traveler receives all of the comfort and service they'd expect from a premium full-service hotel."

The offer is valid for stays through December 31, 2009. Travel planners must provide some type of support that confirms their existing negotiated rate with another hotel company.

"While this offer is incredibly aggressive, we're confident that once these new customers stay with Red Lion we'll win them over and they'll become long-term customers," said Mark Mahoney, Vice President of Sales.

Red Lion Hotels Corporation manages 8,910 rooms and 437,626 square feet of meeting space in its network.

You can read all the details about the promotion at Red Lion Hotels.

More companies believe they can save money on travel by implementing procurement techniques this year than in 2009, according to Business Travel News' 2009 Procurement Practices survey. The percentage of those expecting to save less than five percent through procurement practices dropped to 7 percent this year from 19 percent in 2008. Meanwhile, those expecting to save more than 16 percent increased from 19 percent to 26 percent.

Using procurement techniques, which can measure the return and impact of travel on revenue objectives, has been a go-to practice for organizations for the past few years. In fact, 55 percent of travel managers surveyed say they use procurement practices to meet revenue goals.

What are some popular procurement strategies? About 73 percent of travel managers cited managing demand for travel services, 65 percent said mandating the use of preferred suppliers, and 37 percent said enforcing restrictive pre-trip approval processes.

"We've found that travel managers are also seeking more sophisticated advice, tools and tactics to strategically cut costs while protecting the value of their travel program," said Frank Schnur, vice president, Global Advisory Services, American Express Business Travel. "Procurement practices, which now include compliance and demand management, are an effective complement to traditional savings efforts. The survey results underscore the continued success of these tactics at maximizing the return generated by travel investments."

What, if any, procurement practices are you enforcing at your organization? Do you factor in your travel as it relates to meetings and events?

If you're not part of the 55 percent making the most of procurement techniques when it comes to meetings travel, make sure to check out Cvent's Strategic Meetings Management solution to learn how our technology can help you better organize and manage your cost-cutting efforts.

We've already seen that public opinion has an affect on meetings and events, specifically on an organization's decision to cancel. Now, the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) has found that a a fear of public perception is actually raising expenses on meetings you do decide to have.

It turns out that organizations are going out of their way to host what will be taken as sensible meetings. They'll pass up on all the great deals at venues with easy access to air transportation, then spend more on venues not associated with entertainment.

The survey's 110 U.S. respondents were asked, "Would your company avoid a perceived resort location (like Las Vegas) for a corporate conference or meeting in favor of a less leisure-oriented location (even if rates were better in the resort city) to avoid any external negative perceptions?" A surprising 60 percent said "Yes."

"Paying higher rates and spending more time getting to a business location when less expensive and more easily accessible alternative locations are available will quickly deplete a corporate meetings budget, thus wasting funds that could provide someone with a job," Susan Gurley, ACTE Executive Director, said in a statement. "Not only is this bad business from the standpoint of a corporate balance sheet, but it is also bad business for the travel and hospitality industry."

Regarding site selection, 58 percent of the respondents said suitability and price were key factors. However, 38 percent also said public and media perception is a factor, too.

What will it take to address this issue? Gurley said promoting business travel management techniques and controls is the answer.

If you're looking to implement more control over your meeting spend, consider getting started with Cvent's Strategic Meetings Management solution.

Cvent will be attending ACTE’s Global Education Conference held Sunday, April 5, through Tuesday, April 7, at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel in Washington, DC. Held annually, ACTE’s show is expected to see over 850 top level corporate executives from the travel industry come together for educational sessions and peer-to-peer discussion about this year’s theme “Unconventional Solutions for Uncommon Times.”

The ACTE conference schedule also includes an exclusive tradeshow, TransACTE, of 30+ exhibitors, held Sunday, April 5, and Monday, April 6. Make sure to visit Cvent at booth 412 during tradeshow hours!

The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) was founded in 1988 from a belief that corporate travel buyers and suppliers could work together in a mutual partnership. ACTE currently has over 6,000 attendees in over 80 countries.

If you would like to set up a private meeting during this DC event, please email Anil Punyapu, Vice President, Enterprise Sales, at apunyapu@cvent.com. For more information on Cvent, please visit www.cvent.com.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Earlier this month, we discussed the 2009 Travel Management Landscape report's predictions for this year. Aside from air travel, the report also looked at hotels. Some of its key findings:

• The United States will see the biggest decline in occupancy in the global market; overall, we will likely see the broadest decline for the world since 2002.

• Hotel growth in 2009 will likely hit 3 percent.

• A 0.1 increase in U.S. hotel rates over 2008 is likely, according to PKF; Carson Wagonlit Travel predicts increases by 2 percent to 3 percent.

• Hotels may turn to unbundled costs, resulting in fees and surcharges for items/services such as mini-bar restocking, baggage holding, etc.

What does this mean for meeting and travel professionals? The low demand and high supply seem to suggest that planners can take advantage of a buyer's market during negotiations. However, hotels know that lowering rates hurts in the long run (thus the predictions of increased rates in 2009.) You may be able to get lower preferred rates, but your best bet is added-value packages such as parking, breakfast, Internet services and office transfers.

One thing to keep in mind is that many companies started to look to three-star and mid-scale hotels for corporate travel in 2007 and 2008 when rates were high. Now, limited-service brands may be harder to book. Don't rule out full-service hotels for fear of higher rates; you may find yourself in a better position to negotiate with them.

The environment may be a victim of the down economy, too, according to a recent study by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) and European expense management company KDS. Of the 329 travel managers and business travelers worldwide surveyed, 79 percent of companies said that cost-cutting was a high business travel priority this year. Only 17 percent said that environmentally sustainable travel was a high priority.

However, this doesn't mean that Corporate Social Responsibility isn't important to organizations. According to the survey, the number of organizations with a CSR charter has increased from 59 percent in 2008 to 61 percent today. About 27 percent of companies prefer to do business with suppliers and partners practicing CSR policies.

The fact that an interest in sustainability has not translated into business travel is a matter of cost, Susan Gurley, executive director and chief staff officer of ACTE, said in a statement. "The survey shows that, contrary to some predictions, Corporate Social Responsibility has not fallen from favor in these challenging times. However, it also puts to rest the myth that good CSR practices automatically include greener travel choices. Under present economic conditions, green travel choices may frequently conflict with the greater urge to cut costs."

CEO of KDS Yves Weisselberger maintains that green travel has a bright future in the long run. She said, "Once the financial premium is erased, or the economy permits, we should expect to see green business travel become far more popular."