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Companies Not Curtailing Dining Costs, 34% of Business Travelers Have Free Rein When Dining on the Road, Orbitz for Business Survey Finds
Travelport for Business Signs Dunkin' Brands as Corporate Customer
On the road for business and dining out? Does your per diem policy afford you fine dining or fast food? More than one-third of those responding to this month's Orbitz for Business corporate traveler survey are watching their spending at $50 or less per day. Another third, however, are paying little if any attention to the right side of the menu -- with no spending limits for meals while traveling for business. This is among the findings in May's Orbitz for Business Take 5 traveler poll.
Reinforcing the expenditure growth trend, a May study by the Aberdeen Group -- a leading industry research provider -- found that annual T&E card spending as a whole has soared. In North America, T&E card spending is up 22% while it has grown 20% worldwide, Aberdeen's study says.
But companies' per diem spending policy for meals varies greatly, according to the May Orbitz for Business survey. Responses to this, and other questions in the monthly Orbitz for Business poll are as follows:
1) More than one-third of respondents say their company has no limits on per diem spending for meals while conducting business travel on the road.

  -- 34% -- company has no spending limits
  -- 19% -- up to $30/day
  -- 17% -- up to $50/day
  -- 9% -- up to $75/day
  -- 6% -- up to $100/day
  -- 4% -- more than $100/day
  -- 11% -- don't know

2) Traveler opinion varies when it comes to changing to the middle seat on an airplane. Orbitz for Business asked travelers at what price, hypothetically, would someone give up their coveted aisle or window seat to move to the center seat. The survey asked travelers if they were seated in a row of three, and the person occupying the middle seat offered to pay to switch seats, how much would be required to say "yes".

  -- $50 or less -- 27%
  -- $75 -- 6%
  -- $100 -- 23%
  -- $150 -- 4%
  -- $200 -- 15%
  -- I wouldn't be interested in switching no matter what the offer -- 25%

3) For a three hour door-to-door business trip -- assuming travel times are the same -- two-thirds would prefer to drive to the location rather than fly or take a train.

  -- 66% -- prefer to drive to the trip location
  -- 14% -- prefer to take a train
  -- 11% -- prefer a short flight
  -- 7% -- no preference
  -- 2% -- other

The Orbitz for Business survey is a subset of Orbitz' Take 5 initiative, which was launched in 2006 in celebration of the company's five-year anniversary. The Take 5 Corporate Traveler poll was conducted online using a MarketTools panel of 292 adults ages 18-65 who are business travelers. MarketTools is a market research firm that directly manages a nationally-representative online panel of more than 2.5 million individuals, with a global network extending to more than eight million consumers worldwide.
Orbitz Worldwide division of Travelport
Web site: http://www.orbitz.com/

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