The SpendSmart™ Report is a quarterly report by Certify that rounds up some of the biggest trends in business travel spend. As we have previously discussed, Starbucks continues to be the number one expensed restaurant in the US, beating out other popular brands such as McDonalds, Subways, and Panera Bread. When we look at the data, it is easy to see the overwhelming support for the top, familiar brands.
But what if we looked at some more local trends? Do these national trends translate over to different metropolitan areas? Let’s take a deeper dive into the trends from the top 4 cities for traveling professionals.
New York
When looking into the SpendSmart™ database, more specifically at the Metropolitan Area of New York, we noticed a strange trend. Seamless has beaten out the #2 expensed vendor , Starbucks, by more than just a narrow margin. In fact, the growing online delivery service beat out Starbucks by 218%. And this is not the first time this has happened either. This is becoming an emerging trend in New York City. As the variety and quality of restaurants locally start to overshadow the national trend to favor larger brands. With the average cost per meal being $58.54, far more expensive than the national average, and Le Pain Quotiden as the top rated restaurant, it is obvious that business travelers don’t mind spending more to sample to local flair. Yellow Cab is the most expensed of any other category, leading with 7.3% of the total general expenses category. With hotel rooms averaging, $373.16 per visit we can see that many of these travelers don’t mind spending more in the Big City. Los Angeles Los Angeles follows national trends much more closely, with Starbucks being the most frequently expensed vendor for meals. However, the top rated meal vendor for Los Angeles was In-n-Out Burgers showing that many smaller brands can rate highly despite the competition. The average meal in Los Angeles is $43.86 and the average hotel is $250.44, showing the city has lower travel expenses than other popular metropolitan areas.
Uber hits number one as the most commonly expensed vendor in the general category. Uber leads by an average of 3%, with $31 as the average expense. Uber offers taxi service via app and has grown substantially over the past few years, expanding to Los Angeles, New York, Paris and over 200 others worldwide.
Boston
Boston, like Los Angeles follows trends national trends quite closely, with Starbucks in the lead for total expenses. Like Chicago, Boston favors the big brands with Panera Bread as the highest rated restaurant for business travelers. Bostonians, on average spend $51.73 per meal and $301.26 per stay at a hotel room.
Boston most expensed vendor is under a general “taxi” expense, which leads with 4.13%. This is most likely due to the large number of smaller taxi companies in Boston. For ease, the company name can be omitted for the expense report, but makes it harder to pinpoint any exact company.
Chicago
Starbucks leads the pack in Chicago as the most expensed meal vendor in area. In a strange twist, the highest rated restaurant in Chicago is Dunkin Donuts, one of Starbucks many competitors. The windy city follows the national trends a bit more closely than other cities, favoring bigger brands over the smaller ones. The average meal in Chicago is $47.13 while the average cost per hotel stay is $299.81.
Yellow Cab is the most expensed under the general category at 3.03% of total general expenses from Chicago. With over 1600 taxis in the area, it comes as no surprise that the cab company is #1 in total expenses for Chicago.
Certify, is the #1 ranked expense management solution for user satisfaction in the latest G2crowd report, making it easy for traveling professionals to create and submit their expense reports with ease.
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