Since Southwest Airlines ® started serving Customers in 1971, our mission has remained the same—serving everyone with the Heart and Hospitality they deserve while flying with us. Nearly 52 years later, some things have changed within the industry. One thing that hasn’t is our unwavering commitment to providing exceptional Customer Service to everyone. Thanks to new research released this week, we now know how important this is to business travelers.
With work-related travel becoming a key part of business’ roadmaps and managed travel levels returning to pre-pandemic levels, we partnered with JD Power and travel consultancy FESTIVE ROAD to see if our world-class Hospitality is serving our Customers and helping them succeed when they are on the road. We found the answer to be a resounding “YES!”
After spending several months interviewing Corporate Travel Managers, embarking on listening tours, and even conducting research in-flight, we’re excited to share our findings: That a traveler’s end-to-end flying experience has a direct impact on their readiness to perform work and their overall well-being. So what does this mean for Southwest? The research helps validate what we knew—that following the Golden Rule and serving our Customers with a smile and kindness helps our road warriors be better prepared for their meetings and deliver strong results for their respective companies and organizations.
Within the study, we asked travelers about Southwest's importance on their business travel needs. A majority said that they’ve had a positive experience and that experience helped them mentally prepare for their work and ability to have a successful meeting at their destinations.
And when it comes to preparing business travelers to get back on the road, there are a few things Travel Managers can do to get them ready:
Choose airline suppliers, like Southwest, who support your travelers, including taking a closer look at how they support their own Employees.
Bring data to the forefront to better understand the needs of your travelers.
Look beyond costs to prioritize the traveler experience, including adding more communication touchpoints to ease stress while on the road.
There are so many other interesting tidbits we found that we think you might be interested in. I encourage you to check out the research by reading The Performance Factor: How travel experience and wellbeing impacts employees.
Let us know in the comments about how you take care of yourself and your well-being while traveling for work.
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