BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Runzheimer, the premier relocation and living costs intelligence solution powered by Motus, today released a new report, “Business Travel Expense Trends: Conference Travel Costs.” The report examines the overall costs companies can expect when traveling domestically for business meetings, trade shows, conferences and industry events. Using numerous data points, it focuses specifically on how location choices impact total costs. According to the findings, companies spend more than $111.7 billion on business travel every year, with the average cost of a typical business trip amounting to $1,286.
Analyzing travel cost data from 60 of the most common destinations for U.S. domestic business travel, the report revealed great insights. It found New York City is the most expensive place to travel to, with an average total cost of $1,633. This is 69% more expensive than travel to Orlando, the lowest cost area, which averages a total cost of $963. San Francisco, Boston, Seattle and Washington round out the top five most expensive cities to travel to. On the other side of the spectrum, Cleveland, Atlanta, Baltimore and Denver were found to be the five least expensive cities.
“Business travel is an essential part of any industry,” said Ken Robinson, market research analyst for Motus. “When planning travel budgets, understanding specific travel costs including airfare, car rentals, lodging and meals is critical, as they can vary widely between cities.”
An example of this wide variance can be found with Charlotte and Dallas. Both fall at or under the national average for overall trip costs. However, both have some of the most expensive average airfares. But these are far from the only pieces that impact the cost of business travel.
The report also looks into how location affects the cost of attending popular U.S.-based conferences. These results pointed to location having a bigger impact on costs than the size of the event. For example, attending New York Comic Con is 73% more expensive than the total travel costs associated with attending the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The report also examines how recent location changes to notable conferences help attendees save on travel costs. For example, by moving Dell Technologies World to Las Vegas, 2019 conference-goers spent 25% less than they would have if they had traveled to Austin, the event’s previous location, instead.
“Having an understanding of location-specific travel costs can help event planners maximize both attendance and their budget by avoiding expensive locations and times of year,” said Denise Oemig, Director of Relocation Services at Motus. “It’s also crucial to helping businesses accurately plan and budget for business-related travel for their employees year-round.”
Additional findings in the Business Travel Expense Trends: Conference Travel Costs report include:
- Lodging accounts for 34% of the costs of an average trip, while airfare makes up 27%, meals make up 20% and car rentals make up 19%.
- While summer months are the most popular for leisure travel, they are not the most expensive time of year for every destination. Some cities have little to no seasonal variance in travel costs, like Los Angeles or San Antonio.
- The most expensive times of year to travel are January – March and September – October.
To access the full report, please visit: http://in.motus.com/2020-business-travel-expense-trends-report.
About Motus
Motus is the definitive leader in solutions for businesses with mobile-enabled workers and fleets of any size. The Motus technology platform simplifies both mileage and mobile device reimbursement with proprietary software that calculates personalized and compliant reimbursements for each employee, while improving employee productivity and reducing the overall costs of mobility. The company’s data, captured and analyzed across the world’s largest retained pool of drivers, also underpins the annual Internal Revenue Service (IRS) business mileage standard, the amount an individual can deduct for business vehicle expenses.
Runzheimer is the premier relocation and living costs intelligence solution, powered by Motus. Understanding that today’s workforce is driven by data, Runzheimer provides employers and their mobile workers with the actionable insights and tools needed for a successful move or business trip. Our world class solutions support companies with everything from equitable compensation calculations between multiple locations to understanding relocation-related expenses and needs. With comprehensive data, Runzheimer empowers employers to win the war for talent while getting the most from their budget.
For more information please visit www.motus.com or www.runzheimer.com, or connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.
