Guestrooms with larger workstations, modular designs and plenty of outlets have become the norm in hotels targeting the road warrior.

U.S.-generated business travel spending is projected to increase 6.8% to $292.3 billion during 2014, according to the Global Business Travel Association, and hoteliers have taken notice.

Owner and operators at brands and independents are baiting their lines with new or upgraded amenities aimed at providing a seamless, comfortable work experience while on the road.

“The business traveler expects hotels to know who they are and their preferences. They want personalized and relevant communications throughout all of the major touch points,” said Bill Linehan, chief marketing officer at Red Lion Hotels Corporation.

They’re also more demanding, said Anne Smith, VP of brand strategy for Choice Hotels International.

Road warriors have adapted their budgets to fit the new normal, so every dollar counts, she added. They expect real value in a hotel experience that has evolved to meet their needs in a more mobile, connected, “always-on” world.

The most important factor for business travelers when selecting a hotel was location, which was cited by 73% of the 525 U.S. business travelers surveyed in Choice’s “Road warrior survey.” Room value came in second (cited by 61% of respondents), followed by free Wi-Fi (55%).

Choice executives are using those and other insights from the survey to make several of their brands more accommodating. The chain’s upper-midscale Comfort Inn and Suites brand, for instance, is in the tail end of a refresh that has brought greater quality, value and consistency portfolio-wide, Smith said.

Free Wi-Fi is one of the hallmarks of the brand, she said.

“This is a constantly connected world,” Smith said. “The business traveler today needs to feel like they have access … and it’s reliable. It’s not just having Wi-Fi or having free Wi-Fi. It’s having Wi-Fi that’s reliable.”

Another value-minded amenity is breakfast, which is also free, she said.

“We want to make sure we’re providing a variety of options for different kinds of business travelers coming in,” she said. “That goes a long way in helping the business traveler maximize their (return on investment).”

Guestroom workstations that work

The “Road warrior survey” also found that 84% of business travelers prefer to work in their rooms compared with 10% who prefer to work in a business center.

Choice executives again are taking such feedback to heart. The Comfort brand now features a modular design to make working in the room more flexible, Smith said. Guests can either pull up to the workstation, outfitted with a recharge station with plenty of outlets for every conceivable electronic device, or they can reconfigure the room’s modular cubes for ready-made laptop stands, ottoman or extra seating for quick meetings.

The 215-room Kinzie Hotel in Chicago recently underwent a $4.5-million renovation, which in part served to improve the hotels’ in-room executive workstations.

Upgrades include an oversized work desk, international USB docking station and iPhone 4 and 5 docking stations. The property also offers remote printing in room, complimentary breakfast on each guestroom floor and individual Keurig coffee machines and mini fridges in each room.

The result is what Jose Angulo, the Kinzie’s director of sales and marketing, calls the “anti-business center.”

“Business travelers prefer to work from the comforts of their guestroom opposed to sitting or standing at a business center that’s hidden, very dark and not as comfortable or private,” he said. “Guests are requesting to have the technology and those comforts available in their guestrooms.”

The Kinzie does still offer a traditional business center off the lobby to satisfy the preferences of every guest, Angulo added.

Nearly every aspect of the refreshed guestrooms was based off customer feedback from surveys, TripAdvisor and other review sites, he said.

“We took that feedback to our designers, and we put in power outlets on each side of the bed and on the executive work station,” Angulo offered as an example.

The changes have played well in the hotel’s corporate-dense River North location. Managed by Portfolio Hotels & Resorts, the Kinzie saw complaints about poor Wi-Fi and inefficient work spaces drop almost immediately.

“Prior to the renovation we used to get guests that would complain pretty much on a daily basis that we needed a faster Wi-Fi service. ... They don’t complain about it now,” Angulo said.