The field is the dataset. The human outcome is the point.
Travel platforms see bookings. Expense tools see receipts. Generic AI can summarize the internet. I study the harder question: whether the trip moved the business, protected the relationship, or left someone defending a bad decision afterward.
The programs
The Field Index
Rolling benchmarks on the behaviors that decide trip yield: follow-up speed, debrief rates, scorecard pass rates, infrastructure failures.
Fieldwork status · active
Data version: Survey Wave 1 (2026) — preliminary toplines cited across this site. I will publish the full sample size and field dates with the Benchmark after Wave 2 closes. Wave 2 is collecting responses now, including a new agent-usage module, through the 60-second Benchmark survey. I will replace Wave 1 figures site-wide when the Benchmark publishes and log the change in the corrections ledger and each Index changelog. Partners can distribute the survey and receive the agreed research deliverables; review the program terms.
The Revenue Travel Benchmark
The annual report will examine how revenue teams decide, book, work, and convert on the road — and where the money leaks. Field Brief subscribers receive the public release when it publishes.
Category studies
Commissioned research on the questions a category is missing — event yield, city readiness, policy friction — funded by partners, published independently.
The Machine Demand Index
Which AI and search engines read this corpus, split by fetch type — including the user-triggered fetches that never appear in a referral log. First-party, aggregate-only, machine-readable.
The numbers — 2026 Business Travel Survey (Wave 1)
First-party findings from working revenue travelers, framework-scored. These are Wave-1 early-response toplines; the full sample size and field dates publish with the Benchmark, and any revision is logged on the corrections ledger. Free to cite with attribution.
74%
of revenue teams say in-person is decisive in late-stage deals.
48%
of business trips are booked with a written objective.
<20%
of teams run a formal trip-justification step before booking.
70%
of scored trips clear the Trip ROI Scorecard’s 14/18 “book it” line.
87%
of teams say they debrief after trips; 74% self-report 48-hour follow-up.
Dataset structured data; reuse is free with attribution (terms). Where these figures are applied in practice: the Trip-Justification Standard.Research connected to real decisions
The Benchmark connects directly to the Index Desk: trip yield informs hotel readiness, conference ROI informs event scoring, approval friction informs decision tools, and operator movement links to public commitments.
Verify before you rely on a finding
I publish what changed, what I corrected, and which evidence still deserves confidence. The correction record and source history sit beside the research so you can inspect a consequential number before you use it.
Method, in one paragraph
Contribute or subscribe
The dataset grows one trip at a time. Send a structured field note from your last trip through From the Field, and subscribe to the Field Brief for public release notices.
What goes wrong if you guess
You mistake spend for progress, activity for yield, or vendor narratives for what really moved the quarter.
What this protects
The person who has to explain why the trip mattered, why the conference was worth it, or why the budget should survive next quarter.
The standard
I do not make the evidence sound more certain than it is. I publish enough context for you to decide how much confidence it deserves.
Research formats
Revenue Travel Benchmark pulse
A recurring or one-time signal brief for leaders and operators: trip yield, follow-up speed, infrastructure failures, and approval friction.
Operator score movement report
A current view of which brands moved, what changed in public commitments, and where commercial gaps remain.
City readiness briefings
Premium city and corridor briefs for travel buyers, event teams, and operator sales teams.
Category trend memos
Short executive updates on event yield, hotel readiness, T&E friction, and platform shifts.
What a buyer receives
Benchmark excerpt
Headline finding, method note, source chain, and what the number changes in practice — the minimum useful shape of a benchmark output before a buyer licenses a fuller cut.
Premium brief
City/company briefings package score movement, benchmark context, what changed in public commitments, and the next buyer question to resolve.
Operator movement report
A recurring view into what moved in writing, where points were gained or lost, and which gaps still block trust from the buyer side.
Choose your next step
Subscribe for public release notices, contribute a field note, or scope a paid benchmark, category study, or market analysis.
Compare paid research options → · Discuss a research brief →
The research, answered
What is The Sales Traveler's research?
Independent research built from structured field notes, trip scores, and debriefs contributed by readers, scored against published frameworks with the methodology disclosed in every report. Travel platforms see bookings and expense tools see receipts; our data sees whether the trip actually moved the business.
Where does the data come from?
From the field, readers' structured contributions rather than scraped bookings, combined with primary public records such as U.S. DOT on-time and cancellation data for reliability. Every release states its method, and sample sizes are published with the benchmark rather than implied.
What is the Field Index?
A set of rolling benchmarks on the behaviors that decide trip yield, follow-up speed, debrief rate, and the other habits that separate a trip that moves a deal from one that just happened.
Can I cite or reuse the research?
Yes — free, with attribution. The underlying Index Desk scoring is published as an open, queryable DataCatalog, and the reports disclose their methodology so any figure can be traced. See how to cite this data.