Hidden Cuts in Business Travel: What to Look For

Business travel always comes with plenty of hassles, of course, whether it's killer jet lag or crabby clients. But road warriors these days have a new foe to contend with: travel industry cutbacks.

While the down economy has provided vacationers with a host of new bargains, business travelers, already pressed by employers to tighten their belts, are discovering that the travel universe is becoming increasingly creative when it comes to cutting costs. And while some cutbacks are impossible to miss (have you flown lately?), others are subtler. At some hotels, for instance, once-standard perks like turndown service and 24-hour room service have gotten the ax. And with companies trimming staff, expect a longer wait for rental-car pickup, check-in and more. At the same time, the industry is awash in new charges for former freebies like hotel amenities, including gyms and saunas.

And these shifts may be just the beginning. According to government data, the U.S. leisure and hospitality industry lost 28,000 jobs this January alone. LaSalle Hotel Properties, owner of Boston’s Westin Copley Place and 30 others, recently announced staffing cuts of 20 percent, while marquee brands like Starwood and Marriott have seen their stock prices plummet by more than 50 percent.

Car-rental companies, too, are paring down; Avis Budget Group, for one, has cut 2,200 positions and plans to reduce costs by at least $150 million over the next several months. And just in case anyone was harboring some hope for the airlines, the latest estimates project a $2.5 billion industry-wide loss—so don’t expect a return of in-flight snacks anytime soon.

We feel your pain, frequent fliers. So we took a little business trip of our own, shrunken expense account and all, to find out exactly where the industry cutbacks are irking travelers -- and where there might be unexpected benefits. Our itinerary included two prime destinations for the PowerPoint set: Chicago, one of the country's biggest conference hubs, and Miami, which, well, just seemed like a pleasant place to do a little midwinter business.

Walking through the doors of New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, we’re already bracing ourselves for the worst. After all, like most travelers, we’ve come to expect a charge for everything, including soda ($2 on US Airways) and pillows and blankets (now $7 on JetBlue). Even before hitting the security line, we’ve already forked over the corporate card twice, once for the $15 baggage fee and again for a $39 “premium economy” upgrade—still coach, but at least our knees won’t have indents in them at the end of the flight. The airlines have also cut their seating capacity to the lowest level since 1985, making it harder to find direct flights on many routes.

There may be an upside to these cuts, though—our United flight actually arrived on time, and we may have more than decent weather to thank. With fewer planes clogging the skies and runways, says Joe Brancatelli, editor of business-travel site JoeSentMe.com, the overcrowding that triggered many prior delays seems to be improving. In fact, on-time arrivals for the past four months came in at 80 percent, four points higher than a year earlier.

Arriving in Chicago, it still looks like business as usual, as we spot convention groups ranging from plastic surgeons to evangelical ministers. But with room-occupancy rates down nearly 13 percent this January, well below the national average, the city’s hotels are feeling the pinch. To find out what really goes into running a hotel in a recession, we head to the Hotel Monaco, where general manager Nabil Moubayed shows us around the striped guest rooms and fire-lit lobby of his clubby property.