The first major study on European business travellers has revealed significant findings in reference to female travellers, their preferences compared to men, millennial travellers and British traveller attitudes; close to 70% of European female travellers want experiences over points.

Commissioned by Wanup and with the institutional support of the Department of Tourism and Hospitality at Bournemouth University, the study analysed a group of 25 to 55 year olds, all of whom have travelled for business at least six times and stayed in a hotel three or more times for business over the last year. It included consumers from the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain.

Female Business Travellers

Of the 6,000 Europeans asked only 38.1% of business travellers were female, indicating that gender gaps within business are still prevalent. In addition, the results also revealed that of those women surveyed, only 11.2% are business owners, compared to 15% of men.

Wanup's research also reveals some interesting differences between male and female travellers with men preferring to stay in chain hotels, whereas women are more likely to stay in a boutique hotel.

Women are also more likely to share their experiences on social media - in the UK, this is 69.3% of women, in comparison to 62% of men.

35% of UK female travellers want a better selection of hotels from their loyalty club, citing a lack of variety as a reason for dissatisfaction and pointing to the developing trend of females wanting more choice and unique hotel experiences when they travel.

Millennials and the future of Business Travel

When comparing the millennial traveller to Generation X, the report found that Generation X individuals usually have more autonomy over their decisions - 33.5% don't have to follow a business travel company policy, compared to just 28.7% of millennials.

Millennials are also far more likely to use mobile technology during their travel, with 70.3% booking transport via an app compared to 57.9% of Generation X.

With an importance put on experiences over any other preference, 74.2% of millennials said they would be happy to share their own personal data to receive a more personalised service.

Millennials also revealed they would want to see entertainment subscriptions as a reward from a loyalty programme, with 32% choosing Netflix as a perk. This is in stark contrast to the previous benefits of loyalty clubs which have been point and discount driven.

Download the full report here.