UK business travellers shun the sharing economy

Fewer than one in three (28%) UK business travellers use a sharing economy service when travelling for work, despite nearly half of businesses having a policy in place allowing them to do so.

New research from Egencia®, the business travel arm of Expedia, has revealed that 41% of UK companies allow their employees to use sharing economy services, with 13% even encouraging employees to use services such as Airbnb, HomeAway, Lyft and Uber.

Motivations for choosing the sharing economy experience stems from a desire for more comfort, convenience and culture. Of the travellers who do use those services, more than half (59%) cite experiencing a local culture and meeting new people as a reason for using them, while 49% say it’s for comfort and 40% for location.

The survey of more than 6000 business travellers showed that 29% around the world have chosen the sharing economy option, with travellers in the US (54%) and China (58%) leading the way.

The research was carried out by Northstar between April and May 2016.