In the travel industry, why is the "business" term coined in for luxury or premium services?

Question

The "business" term is often associated with premium travel products, priced accordingly, among many offerings of the industry.

• Business class cabins in airplanes

• So-called "business" hotels

• Business taxis (my example is one taxi operator in Paris having some cabs in its fleet labeled "Club Affaires" - "affaires" being the French word for business in this sense - those cars all being high-end executive sedans)

But, as far as I have traveled for actual business, meaning it is for work purposes and the company pays the expenses, I flew economy. Oppositely, I once splurged in a premium economy ticket for personal travel.

Therefore, where does this association between travelling for business and premium/luxury services come from?

Answer 1

When you travel on business (especially in the past, but to some extent still today):

• you are on expense account and are permitted to buy things on expenses (such as high end restaurant meals) that many people would not buy out of their own pocket
• it is important to the success of your trip that you be well rested, that you have a quiet place to work, and so on

Companies are willing to pay for larger seats, access to a quiet lounge, a larger and quieter taxi, and so on in the belief that this will either make the employee more productive, or make the employee more willing to take the trip. (I can't see a business reason why it's important to get free alcohol on the plane, for example, but that's the situation in business class.) Those who provide such services know that labelling themselves as "luxury" "deluxe" "premium" and so on might attract a side eye about overspending, so they go with "business" "professional" "executive" "accommodating" "flexible" and other words that look better on expense reports.

In some cases the distinction is real - that business hotel may have better wifi, printer in your room, usb cable on the tv so it can be a second screen (I actually travel with a little caster device for this purpose), and other things that appeal to those working in the room in the evenings. In others it's just a name for the more expensive thing that at least some businesses will pay for.

Answer 2

In the early days, all seats were first class. (Source)

Postwar, some airlines started introducing an additional coach class--sometimes also called tourist class or economy class (the last name is today most common). See also "The Origin of Economy Class" (KLM Blog, 2019).

In the late 1970s (and after 1969 when the Boeing 747 was introduced), airlines saw an increasing need to also have a third intermediate class for business or emergency travelers.

Relevant information from The Financial Post (1978):

KLM was one of the pioneers with its FFF class (meaning full fare-paying facility) and most other airlines, sooner or later, followed with variations ...

British Airways ... is launching Club Class ...

"It's our way of recognizing the considerably higher fare paid as well as the quality of service demanded by the business traveler" ...

Pan Am quickly followed with ... Clipper Class ...

CP Air was working out details for something similar it expected to label "Executive-Economy Service." ...

Air Canada has no specific plans at this time, but ... acknowledges three motivations for travel and says "We have to meet those needs with three class of service." His three groups are first-class, business or emergency travelers who need flexibility and, "as we have seen this summer, those responding to price."

Airline observers agree it is only right and proper the business/emergency segment should get some sort of accommodation. It is much too large and revenue-productive to be ignored -- and growing ...

On the North Atlantic air route, the world's heaviest, an Iata survey shows that business traffic increased dramatically last year to 28.8% vs 21% in 1976 and 19.9% in 1975.

All of the above mentioned airlines were explicitly targeting this intermediate class of business or emergency travelers. However, none explicitly called it "Business Class" (but instead used names like FFF or Club or Clipper Class or Executive-Economy Service).

From my brief googling, it seems Qantas might have been the first to explicitly use the name "Business Class". From a 1980 Business Week ad:

The New Qantas Business Class. You get first-class service for about $900 less than the First Class fare to Australia. Our new Business Class is not just the old Economy Class with a few frills tacked on.

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The term business hotel seems to be rare or non-existent in a search of Google Books for 2000 and before. So I'm guessing it was simply copied from business-class flights.

I had never heard of business taxis until reading your above question. Googling "business taxi", I find only about 200-300 results--many are irrelevant and those that are relevant seem to be for websites in Russia, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands. So perhaps this term is mainly a continental European thing? (And again, I would guess that it was also simply copied from business-class flights.)

Answer 3

My (North American) experience is that for private companies above small size, other than entry level, employees frequently can be reimbursed for (and are sometimes actively encouraged to have booked) relatively expensive business class seats so they will be well-rested. Especially for longer flights. Sometimes the schedule is grueling, business travel and overheaded employee costs are expensive anyway, and they don't feel it's worth going cheap. It's also a bit of a bribe to the employee who will be away from home and inconvenienced in other ways. Physically larger folks who might require a premium economy seat anyway are particularly impacted.

That's less common among public servants (should they even be permitted to attend long-distance or foreign conferences at all).

The cost differential should not be compared with the kind of seats you might book for a holiday trip (non-refundable, booked long in advance, crammed in the back) but with something like "Y" (economy class, with no cost for re-booking the flight or cancelling). I also know of some companies that have booked blocks of seats in first class for long distance travel at almost business class prices-- giving their employees the benefit of lay-down beds so they arrive in (say) Tokyo from North America or vice-versa in relatively good shape.

I'm also aware of the austere "business hotels" in Asia .. thanks for pointing out the dissonance, which had not occurred to me. They do tend to have a better desk (with adequate electrical outlets) and chair, in my experience. Sometimes the desk in tourist hotels is close to useless, even after moving things around, and using the chair for any length of time is akin to torture.

Another data point is "business class" seats in high-speed trains in China, which are above first class in price and amenities (image from trip.com).