Corporate America Has Fallen in Love Again With European Business Travel
Skift Take
American companies are now traveling to Europe in numbers approaching pre-4Q 2008 levels, but the focus is more on value, emerging destinations, and the next-generation business traveler.
Corporate travel planners in America remember September 2008 with dread. Lehman Brothers filed bankruptcy, signaling the beginning of global financial collapse. Then the AIG scandal broke when the insurance company rang up a $443,000 tab at the St. Regis hotel in Dana Point just days after receiving an $85 billion bailout.
Many American companies killed their business and group travel budgets to upscale destinations to avoid the negative perception heaped on AIG. Europe especially took it squarely on the chin, as one of the most desired destinations for top-tier international business travel due to its cachet and cultural venues.
Fast forward to 2013. It’s taken almost five years but corporate America is heading back to Europe in a big way. Except it’s a different Europe and a different corporate America.
“It’s even more optimistic than that, it’s almost like America is running back to Europe,” says Chris Lynn, vp sales/marketing, North America at London & Partners, the city’s marketing organization. “And it’s not just a case of cabin fever, it’s about getting back to business.”
Lynn cites the London Olympics as a major catalyst, complemented with a stellar array of new hotels and facilities built for the Games. Suddenly for corporate visitors, the city is in vogue for what’s new versus historic. The Shard, designed by Renzo Piano, is Europe’s newest iconic building housing a Shangri-La hotel on its upper floors. The new ME London is the city’s hippest hotel, conceived by Foster + Partners, who were surprisingly commissioned to also design the interior space. Next up, Nobu and Armani hotels are presently under development.
“What’s different is that ‘affordable luxury,’ if you will, is no longer the stalwart term for three- and four-star hotels,” says Lynn. “Now you can actually talk about the value proposition in the luxury sector because companies are demanding it.”
Two hours north of London, Manchester’s high-tech MediaCity has evolved into a modern international business hub and media nerve center. Leading up to the Olympics, the BBC moved its sports broadcast facilities from London into MediaCity surrounding the dockyards