Meeting in the middle? Where business travel meets global mobility

New trends in business travel and international assignments are creating a fascinating space for business travel, global mobility expertise and service providers to collaborate, innovate, cut costs and improve employee experience, writes Ruth Holmes.

Ruth Holmes

24 September 2024

This article is taken from the Autumn 2024 issue of

Think Global People magazine

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View your copy of the Autumn 2024 issue of Think Global People magazine.

Business travel and global mobility have historically been two very distinct disciplines. Today, influences such as the environmental impact of frequent business trips, cost and the focus on employee experience are blurring the lines between the two domains. Average length of stays for business travel are increasing as trips become less frequent; while for global mobility, traditional three- to five-year assignments have become less popular as overall volumes of new, shorter assignment types have increased.Employee demands and the rise of the workation, work from anywhere, international remote and hybrid models are also fuelling this crossover. A recent survey of 2,000 business travellers in the UK, United States, Canada and Australia commissioned for World Travel Protection found 34% of business travellers want the flexibility to work from any location. Almost one in five (17%) identify as being an ‘anywhere’ worker.The data raise a number of issues: not least, compliance. Over one in ten (13%) plan to work from a different country for at least a month or more, while 12% are planning a ‘hush’ or ‘quiet vacation’ where they work remotely without informing their employer.A second issue is retention and attrition where workplace flexibility is increasingly valued. On this point, 13% say they would quit if this option was not possible, rising to 17% among those aged 18–34. Interestingly, a quarter of employers surveyed said this flexibility is actively encouraged; a point Marianne Curphey explores in this issue on the latest thinking and practice on hybrid working.So, what are the considerations for those looking to align business travel and mobility policies and practice more closely, as global people become increasingly relevant in today’s workplace?

Business mobility? A new era

The merging of business travel and global mobility is playing out in organisation transformations around the world, as well as in parts of the mobility supply chain, perhaps most obviously in the serviced apartment sector. Its popularity and growth have mirrored these trends in extended business trips and shorter assignment lengths.Contributions and commentary from serviced accommodation operators, employers and intermediaries – including global distribution platforms and technology companies – explored the implications of this alignment in conversations at events over the summer, especially from the perspective of booking and user experience.The launch of Ariosi’s latest ‘Global Serviced Apartment Industry Report’ (GSAIR) and corporate accommodation platform AltoVita’s Smart, Safe Sustainable Summit 2024 both offered practical insight into their challenges and opportunities.Karen Hutchings, former head of travel at EY and founder of consultancy Cobb & Hutch, told GSAIR. “Serviced apartments will become more significant for travel managers over the next ten years. Mobility is the bedrock of the serviced apartments’ business, but many travel companies are already using them for transient travel too.”Panellist at the AltoVita event, Souhilla Taarabit, is group head of corporate travel services at Dubai-headquartered conglomerate Aal-Futtaim. She described how the company’s shift to outsourcing travel management created gaps in provision, as well as highlighted synergies between the business travel and relocation teams’ responsibilities, and had led to a more unified approach.“Do we as the corporate services team manage the issues of the relocation team when they are dealing with their travel suppliers?” Souhilla Taarabit explained. “Or does that remove us from the focus we are supposed to have on our business travel community? This is where we started to think about combining travel and relocation.“Although we are at the very initial stage and exploring what is happening in the industry, I would say that we are in a very comfortable space because we have decided already to make the move to have travel under HR operations and not, like most other companies, of say, under procurement or finance. So travel is already under the same umbrella with relocation under HR operations. When we decide to make the move, things are going to move quite fast for us.”For fellow speaker Diogo Matos, global mobility services manager at chemical company, Solvay, he has developed a global business services team as part of Solvay’s transformation and restructure. It was driven in part by the company’s international assignment volume declining from around 200 to 70 and expansion of business travellers “to create global mobility 2.0” that raises service levels to internal clients.

Technology a turnkey solution?

For companies like Aal-Futtaim and Solvay developing their global people approaches, the latest GSAIR report explores to what extent the serviced apartment sector can capitalise on this opportunity currently. It means getting the sector’s technology and distribution offer right so both operators and customers get the best possible information in real-time to balance length of stay with flexibility and maximum occupancy on the one hand; and availability, price and quality on the other for corporate customers and individual travellers used to booking their own accommodation.This has been a longstanding issue for the sector and one Mark Harris, GSAIR’s contributing editor, says is jeopardising the sector’s competitive edge against hotels. “For the last 15 years, corporates have been saying they can’t find serviced apartments in the locations they need and, crucially, online booking processes fall well short of expectations, thereby risking non-compliance with company travel policies.”A full 80% of travel buyers surveyed think their corporate booking tool’s user experience is not fit for purpose. There is a sense that there is too much focus on connectivity and that user experience is seen as secondary. Yet that could be about to change.Speaking to TripStax’s Jack Ramsey for the GSAIR report, Daniel Simmons, COO of HotelREZ, said: “Huge changes are coming to booking engines led by changes to what the airlines are doing with New Distribution Capability (NDC), which is to generate higher revenues. The other big change will be in relation to using AI to streamline processes.”Aside from predicted consolidation in the market and the issues Ariosi’s GSAIR report identifies and urges collaboration on, the introduction of new technology is already starting to move the sector in this direction, and towards service personalisation in business travel and mobility for a better employee experience, saving significant costs and enhancing efficiency for employers.Serviced apartment booking platform AltoVita launched its new AI-generated approach, Alto360, at its Smart, Safe, Sustainable Summit 2024, as Fiona Murchie reports in this issue. This powerful tool is the first market intelligence software for extended-stay accommodation that helps programme managers make better budget predictions for their extended- and short-stay programmes. Alto360 and technology like it show how the serviced apartment sector’s product and supporting technology can be the bridge to support companies simplify, streamline and act strategically when it comes to business travel and global mobility programmes. For PwC, working with AltoVita reduced accommodation costs by 48%, for example.For now, however, the shift to wholesale adoption of serviced accommodation for shorter, more traditional business trips is unlikely given the supply and demand issues facing operators and the costs, including around stricter rules on minimum length of stay in some cities. It does, however, show the logic of mixed-use hotel and residence-like accommodation. Nevertheless, the overall trend again points to the opportunities technology offers towards an integrated ‘business mobility’ approach.

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A new era, but cost and compliance still priorities

Another important crossover where global mobility and business travel teams could align is around sharing insights, budgets for buying power, knowledge and support, especially on the human factors at play, which make a critical difference to employee experience, wellbeing, relocation and assignment success.The shift to a blended business mobility approach is being driven by the combination of familiar factors including cost, compliance, user experience, flexibility, strategic alignment and talent management supported by technology. Any alignment of business travel and global mobility needs to take head-on the challenge of technology, human-centred support and the important role of people overseeing third-party suppliers and technology.Serviced apartment operators, as part of the wider hospitality sector, are already well aware of the importance of customer service and experience – a critical aspect of working with global people. As Katie Garrahy, senior client programme manager, at SilverDoor comments in the GSAIR. “Success is a blend of people and technology. When you are going away for three, four weeks or even longer, the business traveller needs that human interaction because they need reassuring, it’s part of the human condition to want to speak to someone. One of our clients is coming over from South Africa for an extended period, yes, they can find lots of information on our portal, but the portal can’t tell our clients which schools are the best locally.”Clearly, this is where global mobility skills and expertise could add value. Working across boundaries and staying agile and alert to possibilities drive business success. For Joanna Cross, chief operating officer of Ariosi, a serviced apartment consultancy and publisher of GSAIR, there are huge opportunities for operators and agents to take up the mantle, listen to what people need and be adaptable in a meaningful way.“We’ve tried so hard as a sector to find a one-size-fits-all in terms of classification. Maybe with accreditation too. Why are we still trying to define something I don’t actually believe we can? I think we all need to be more comfortable with the idea that there will always be a majority concept, but that we are also actually listening to people in terms of other needs, now, next year or in five years’ time. We’ve got to be adaptable to that.”

Streamlining approaches with technology: key considerations

A Mercer report by Frederic Franchi, senior principal, and Michael Nash, principal, examines how companies looking to enhance international assignments with global mobility technology could start to think about the issue.It outlines seven steps to digitalising mobility programmes with multiple stakeholders, policy suites and mobile population types, focusing on “simplification, standardisation and structure”. These include adopting technology that can flex with how the mobile workforce is changing; “connecting the dots” with technology, policies, processes and external vendors to simplify information flows; and using technology to empower employers and personalise their experience.Mastering compliance and risk are also key considerations. Work From Anywhere’s Relocate Think Global People Award-winning ‘Excellence in Technology’ platform means employers, mobility and business travel teams can offer work from anywhere policies and service these compliantly and efficiently.John Lee, Work From Anywhere’s CEO, explained why the company’s technology is so relevant today. “One of the big things we are seeing is a transition. If you look at business travel, if you look at traditional expatriate assignments, we are seeing global mobility functions having a huge increase in volumes of requests, but it’s for different types of mobility. It’s more short-term, workation, work from anywhere-type mobility requests.”Along with this rise in requests for international remote working, whether temporary or permanent, is greater scrutiny from tax and immigration departments globally. Governments are increasingly alert to the trend’s opportunities and threats.“Authorities are cracking down on international remote workers,” explained John Lee. “For example, in New York, the state authorities are actually using AI to track down international remote workers. This tool helps people to assess in a matter of seconds the compliance of all their work from anywhere requests and understand should they approve it or reject it.”Powerful technology platforms like these are helping employers manage their talent compliantly and effectively. As part of the evolving mobility tech stack, they are also freeing up expertise to focus on the more people-focused aspects of their roles.“Our tool elevates the functional ability of global mobility to be a bit more strategic,” said John Lee. “For example, if you look at Spotify, they reduced their attrition rate by 15% when they offered this particular employee benefit. Our tool allows them to offer this dynamic employee benefit while of course keeping an eye on the tax and legal risks and also reducing the costs of going to external providers.”

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