How do business travelers communicate when they're on the road? What is the business traveler's top communication device? How do business travelers keep up-to-date on all things office-related while they're at hotels, running through airports or in between meetings?

The latest study released by Four Points by Sheraton breaks down the behaviors of business travelers, and positions their hotels for future growth with this demographic.

The survey polled a total of 6,000 business travelers from around the world – 1,000 each from the United States, the United Kingdom, China, India, Germany and Brazil and found that most business travelers always have three or four mobile devices on hand, are more inclined to carry a tablet than a laptop, and prefer video chat from their hotel rooms (thus emphasizing the need for efficient WiFi at hotels).

Some key findings from the study include:

• Smartphones are the top device for business travelers, followed by tablets, music players and laptops. Chinese respondents were the only group to bump laptops out of the top four, in favor of cameras.
• As soon as the plane lands, 54% of business travelers flip on their Smartphone to check emails and messages, while the plane is still taxing to the gate. The survey also found that 12% of business travelers never turn their phone off to begin with!
• Checking emails and alerts on their Smartphones is the first thing 36% of respondents do when they wake up in the morning. Only 19% turn on the TV first and 18% take a shower first. As for social media, checking Facebook ranks fourth, while checking Twitter and calling home share a distant fifth (7%) place.
• The majority of respondents report that they have visited a hotel business center (66%), mostly to print business items.  They are also inclined to use the business center to print personal items (87%), check social networking (87%) and check email (86%).


As for why business travelers rely on mobile? No news here: the accessibility to all things happening in the office and in between meetings is immediate to these road warriors. But it's not all business.

The study found that the majority of respondents report that when they're traveling, their spouse/partner is more likely to surprise them with a sexy video chat (56%) than have flowers delivered to their room (17%) or mail them a card (12%).

Melanie Nayer is a hotel reviewer and expert on luxury travel around the world. She has covered all aspects of hotels including corporate restructures, re-branding initiatives, historical aspects and the best of the best in luxury hotels around the world.

Melanie writes a weekly exclusive column for 4Hoteliers.com