Millennial travelers have sharply different business and leisure travel habits and expectations than older generations, according to a global study released by Expedia.com and Egencia, the business travel company of the Expedia, Inc. group.
The Future of Travel study was conducted across five continents, asking 8,535 employed adults in 24 countries about how they conduct business and leisure travel. The study aims to discover how Millennials will impact the travel landscape as they gain decision-making power at work and purchase power in their personal lives.

Millennials are far likelier to embrace loyalty programs while en route; half of them find loyalty programs important when booking flights or hotels, versus only three in 10 of travelers aged 46-65. 

For booking business travel, 32 percent of those 30 and under report using a smartphone and 20 percent report booking on a tablet. That’s compared to just 12 percent and 9 percent for tablet for those over 45.
The study also found that younger travelers were freer with their company’s money when traveling. Globally, business travelers aged 18-30 more frequently report they will spend more of their company’s money on high-end meals compared to those aged 46-65. This generation also prefers room service: 37 percent would spend more of their company’s money on room service, versus only 21percent of 46-65 year-olds.
Worldwide, 30-and-unders report traveling 4.7 times per year on business, versus 3.6 times per year among 31-45 year-olds, and 4.2 times per year among 46-65 year-olds. Millennials take more leisure trips as well, at 4.2 trips a year, versus 2.9 for 31-45 year-olds and 3.2 for 46-65 year-olds.
“Business travelers are early adopters of technology-Millennial travelers even faster-and all on the move from device-to-device, from online to offline and back again,” says Rob Greyber, president of Egencia. “We realize that keeping pace with Millennials and future generations of corporate travelers demands significant focus on mobile in order to sustainably engage them with the right information.”
