PORTLAND, ME--(Marketwired - October 20, 2016) - Leading automated travel and entertainment expense management software provider Certify, today announced the results of its latest SpendSmart™ report for the third quarter of 2016. Analysis of more than 10 million business traveler receipts and expenses revealed ride-hailing services account for the majority of overall ground transportation expenses and receipts nationwide. Uber and Lyft now make up 52% of the ground transportation category, with 48% and 4% of the total, respectively. Taxi is now down more than 63% since the first quarter of 2014.
The Certify SpendSmart™ report tracks business travel expense spending across major categories such as meals, airlines, lodging and car rental. The report highlights top vendors and emerging trends through the analysis of data from millions of expenses and receipts processed by the Certify cloud-based expense reporting system. Reports are compiled each quarter as a valuable tool to help controllers, accountants and business travelers make informed choices about company T&E expense spending.
New for this quarterly release are the Certify SpendSmart™ Metro Reports detailing a selection of expense spending and business travel trends in seven major U.S. travel markets. Data and analysis included in the SpendSmart™ Metro Reports provides a closer look at T&E spending and the brands most preferred by business travelers, customized to a local level. Expense categories include top ranked hotels and restaurants, average transaction costs, user ratings, and local data on the ride-hailing and ground transportation trends. Cities included in the Certify SpendSmart™ Metro Reports for the third quarter are New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Miami and Atlanta.
"Of all the disruptive technologies to come out of the sharing economy over the past several years, nothing has captured the interest of businesspeople or captured more headlines in the media than Uber and global rise of ride hailing," said Robert Neveu, CEO, Certify. "Tracking at 52 percent of the ground transportation total in the third quarter, it's remarkable to see that ride hailing is now more frequently expensed by business travelers than taxi and car rental combined, and more popular than taxi at anytime during the three years Certify has been reporting on this data."
Additional analysis of the more than 10 million receipts and expenses processed by Certify this quarter includes top travel vendors and leading brands such as Starbucks, McDonald's, Subway, Delta, United, Marriott, Hampton Inn, National and Enterprise. User ratings and average expense amounts are broken out by category below.
The Certify SpendSmart™ Report provides analysis of vendors, expense amounts and satisfaction rating data from corporate expense reports collected directly from its customer base. Certify SpendSmart™ reports on millions of receipts and expense transactions every quarter since 2013, delivering valuable insights to Certify clients and the business travel industry at large. Founded in 2008, Certify offers a unique automated solution for integrated travel booking and travel and entertainment expense report management in one system. Current and previous quarterly SpendSmart data and infographic reports are available here.
Q3 Highlights:
Most-Expensed Restaurants:
Starbucks: 4.82% of expenses, averaging $11.31 per receipt
McDonald's: 2.97%, averaging $8.64
Panera Bread: 1.65%, averaging $41.14
Subway: 1.59%, averaging $15.76
Dunkin' Donuts: 1.36%, averaging $12.21
Most Expensed Restaurants by Meal
Breakfast: Starbucks 15.56%
Lunch: Subway 3.57%
Dinner: McDonald's 1.89%
Top Rated Restaurants (On a scale from 1 to 5, as indicated by travelers)
Chick-Fil-A 4.4
Panera Bread 4.3
Chipotle 4.2
Starbucks 4.2
Texas Roadhouse 4.2
Most Expensed Airlines
American Airlines: 20.23%, averaging $312.36
Delta Airlines: 20.21%, averaging $432.85
United Airlines: 13.82%, averaging $397.23
Southwest Airlines: 11.68%, averaging $295.02
Alaska Airlines: 1.44%, averaging $262.24
Top Rated Airlines
Southwest Airlines 4.6
Alaska Airlines 4.5
JetBlue 4.4
Delta Airlines 4.2
American Airlines 3.8
Most-Expensed Hotels
Hampton Inn: 9.44%, averaging $238.63
Marriott: 7.83%, averaging $242.08
Courtyard by Marriott: 7.13%, averaging $175.74
Holiday Inn Express: 5.04%, averaging $221.04
Hilton Garden Inn: 4.83%, averaging $208.20
Top Rated Hotels
Hilton Garden Inn 4.3
Homewood Suites 4.3
Hyatt 4.3
Marriott 4.3
Residence Inn 4.3
Most Expensed Car-Rental Services
National: 25.50%, averaging $185.92
Hertz: 15.14%, averaging $198.74
Enterprise: 14.88%, averaging $208.01
Avis: 13.66%, averaging $183.07
Budget: 4.09%, averaging $202.66
Top Rated Car-Rental Services
Enterprise: 4.3
National: 4.3
Avis: 4.0
Hertz: 4.0
Budget: 3.8
For complete data and analysis from the Certify SpendSmart™ Report for Q3 2016, go to: http://www.certify.com/CertifySpendSmartReport.aspx.
About Certify
Certify is the leading online travel and expense management solution for companies of all sizes. Organizations worldwide book travel and complete expense reports quickly, easily and cost-effectively using Certify cloud and mobile applications. For more information about Certify, please call 207.773.6100 or visit http://www.certify.com.
Contact Information:
Media Contact:
Kevin Wolf
TGPR
kevin@tgprllc.com
(650) 327-1641