As the recession unfolds, a growing number of budget-minded business travelers are shifting to lower-price hotels, whether by choice or because their bosses are telling them to.
The biggest beneficiaries of the shift, travel experts say, are the hotels that keep prices down by not offering amenities like restaurants or meeting rooms.

'Travel managers have told us within their companies they're moving travelers to lower-tier hotels, ' said Caleb Tiller, spokesman for the National Business Travel Association. 'It's definitely a trend we've seen.'

He said companies were taking a varied approach to the switch. Some are requiring it, others strongly encouraging it and others trying to set an example by having even top executives book more modest accommodations.

For those now staying at more bare-bones properties, the downgrading has some discomforts. Alan Hawrylyshen, a technology applications director for a manufacturer of mobile and voice-over-Internet networks, said he had encountered a host of minor inconveniences.

At full-service hotels where he once was a regular, Mr. Hawrylyshen said checking in was welcoming and efficient. 'There was never a line. They'd be expecting you, greet you by name.' Hopscotching to different hotels in search of low rates now means staying at places where his information is not already in the computer system.

'Suddenly, checking in takes longer because they have to process your credit card and you have to fill out forms,' said Mr. Hawrylyshen, who travels one to four times a month. 'It adds 10 minutes or more, sometimes up to half an hour' to his already hectic schedule.

Unfortunately for travelers like Mr. Hawrylyshen, this trend show no signs of abating. According to Peter C. Yesawich, chairman and chief executive at Ypartnership, a travel marketing and research company, a quarter of the nearly 800 business travelers surveyed this year indicated that they were booking less expensive hotels.

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Source - New York Times