Hotels know that they cannot only rely on tourism to succeed, they only need business travelers who are constantly on the move and always choose the best hotels to stay at. However, business professionals' needs are not the same as tourists' needs and for that reason hotel brands across the globe are adapting themselves to meet business professional's needs and get them to stay with them. Here are the top hotels for business travelers.

Overall, Marriott International had the strongest performance, with five brands - Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, SpringHill Suites, Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites - ranking in the top three in their tiers. Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Hyatt Hotels each had three brands finish in the top three of their respective tiers while IHG and Hilton Worldwide each had two.

The top brands are the ones that best keep up with technology. For instance, all the first place brands in this year's survey have some form of mobile app. In fact, Four Seasons, which placed first in the luxury segment, was the most recent to add one.

A clinical professor at New York University's Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism, Bjorn Hanson, said a hotel's app can be a bellwether of brand philosophy. The apps are representative of a brand's attitude as perceived by travelers or corporate buyers or meeting planners, Hanson said. Often the companies that have the apps have also done things with food and beverage concepts or lobby functionality, such as high-speed Internet access. It's more part of a package of them trying to respond to younger travelers.

In fact, the leading brands in each tier have made efforts to appeal to modern travelers and Millennials by investing in more than just new pillows and better breakfasts. If you look at what we've learned from really studying the next-generation traveler, they've grown up combining business and leisure, said Janis Milham, Marriott senior vice president of modern essentials and extended-stay brands. They combine work and play all the time, so we've had to think about our designs, our decor, our rooms, our lobbies, in combining elements of those. It's table stakes these days.

According to an analysis by the NYU Tisch Center, the U.S. lodging industry's investment in re-modeling in-room amenities, faster Internet and upgraded technology systems amounts about $7 billion per year and increases at 7% over year. The most expensive changes include changing bathroons, replacing tubs with walk-in-showers, new or enhanced fitness facilities and redesigned lobbies geared toward Millenials.

Brand consistency used to mean every hotel looked the same, Hanson said. Now, brand consistency means the experience is more the same. In general, whether it's Westin or Hyatt Place or Springhill Suites, those create a very uniform experience, and... I don't mean the color of the wallpaper in the lobby. It's just kind of the feel and attitude of the property.

Brands that focus on guest experience yet provide a consistent product will continue to have a positive relationships with travel buyers as corporate hotel rates climb.

According to a survey from Virgin Atlantic Airways, today's business trip is much more than a long flight followed by a few meetings. The U.S. Travel Association shows that US residents logged 452 million business-related trips in 2013 - that's over 1.2 million trips a day. The report also notes that for every dollar invested in business travel, businesses benefit from an average of $9.50 in increased revenue and $2.90 in new profits.

Without a doubt, business travel is a crucial element to business success. With the objective to better understand what all these travelers are doing in the skies, airports and new destinations, Virgin Atlantic Airways surveyed their passengers (in premium economy and upper class cabins) and asked them about their perspectives, attitudes and what motivates them in business, travel and life.

The study shows some surprising findings such as that business travelers actually enjoy time at the airport, ignore jet lat and even network at 35,000 feet. Today's business traveler has cultivated a hybrid experience of work and leisure, that goes beyond business needs and meet personal needs as well, viewing travel as an opportunity to benefit their career and their personal life.

Our research shows that there is a new mindset in today's business traveler. They're not just a business person on their way to a meeting, but an individual thinking about making the most of every opportunity they find themselves in, said Chris Rossi, senior vice president, North America, Virgin Atlantic.

In terms of demographics, the vast majority of the respondents were over 35. Over half were 35-54, and 40% were 55 plus. The survey was roughly a 55/45 split between men and women.

According to the study, business travelers live by the rules they break. 44% are risk takers and 66% are willing to bend or break the rules. 81% dine, 65% use Wi-Fi, 42% work, 21% get a massage or facial, 6% socialize at the bar.

They look forward to the airport. Half of them actually arrive over an hour early to maximize their time in the lounge.

Even when they are off, they are on. Travelers use over 3TBs of data a month in US Clubhouses to stay connected. That's nearly 650 DVDs, or over 2 billion pages of text or over 17 miles of shelf space.

They find inspiration in the clouds. 1 in 4 said they get their best ideas while traveling - which is over 300,000 brilliant ideas born inflight every day.

There is a networking scene at 35,000 feet. 1 in 5 has done business with someone they met on a flight. If you are in business class, odds are you might be sitting next to another business professional you might want to do business with and who is open to network.

11% catch some sleep, 57% check out inflight entertainment, 14% order something from the bar, 13% read a book, 3% get right to work.

They know time is golden and as such they want to spend it well. From stimulation to rejuvenation, they make the most of every moment.

They mix business with pleasure as 9 in 10 mixx pleasure into every business trip they take. Therefore, they try to make their own path to explore somewhere new. Over half extend a business trip for leisure with only one plan: wing it.

They try to stay in motion and not waste time. Accordingly, two-thirds are off to a meeting within an hour of arrival.

Most of them are happy with their job, as 61% said they have the best job in the world.

Even though business travelers' main purpose is to do business while traveling, they do get to see the world while they do that. As this job can be lonely and tiring, here are some quotes to motive business professionals to explore the world

Adventure is worthwhile. - Aesop

For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move. - Robert Louis Stevenson

Traveling - it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller. - Ibn Battuta

We travel, some of us forever, to seek other places, other lives, other souls. - Anais Nin

A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles. - Tim Cahill

The gladdest moment in human life, me thinks, is a departure into unknown lands. - Sir Richard Burton

No place is ever as bad as they tell you it's going to be. - Chuck Thompson

I am not the same, having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world. - Mary Anne Radmacher

Travel makes on modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world. - Gustave Flaubert.

We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us. -Anonymous

The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready. - Henry David Thoreau

To awaken alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world. - Freya Stark

The life you have led doesn't need to be the only life you have. - Anna Quindlen

Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all of one's lifetime. - Mark Twain

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore. - Andre Gide

The use of traveling is to regulate imagination with reality, and instead of thinking of hot things may be, see them as they are. - Samuel Johnson

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page. - Saint Augustine

Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind. - Seneca

Twenty years from you you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. - Mark Twain

Once a year, go someplace you've never been before. - Anonymous

Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer. - Anonymous

To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries. - Aldous Huxley

Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories. - Ray Bradbury

Traveling tends to magnify all human emotions. - Peter Hoeg

People don't take trips, trips take people. - John Steinbeck

When overseas you learn more about your own country, than you do the place you're visiting. - Clint Borgen

To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted. - Bill Bryson

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing - Helen Keller

For busy business travelers on the move, access to Internet is vital as it allows them to check emails, the stock market or for keeping up with the office back home.

If you are flying with United, once your flight is cruising above 10,000 feet, listen out for an announcement from the crew to point out that Wi-Fi has been switched on, or just search for the United Wi-Fi hotspot and connect.

United has two main types for Internet connections. The first one is satellite-based which can be found on international flights and on some domestic services within the US. And then there is a cellular-based Internet connection which is the mainstay of the airline's p.s. Premium Service flights.

The price varies from flight to flight, even between the same cities. For instance, unlimited Internet on UA99 from Melbourne to Los Angeles sells for US$16.99 (A$24), but goes for a higher US$19.99 (A$28.24) on the return leg as UA98.

From Los Angeles to New York, the price was a bulky US$15.99 for the same: just US$1 cheaper than the journey from Australia, which is almost three times as long.

Planes equipped with DirectTV technology show a small different welcome screen and have their own pricing scheme.

The former is a favorite amongst smartphone users who are only looking to sending and receiving email via the Mail app and using other pre-installed software, such as Facebook and Twitter, as long as they don't need to open their web browser.

However, for laptop users it makes more sense to get the full option, which on longer domestic flights costs the same as what you'd pay on United's fixed-fee connections once taking into consideration the time lost to taxi, take-off, landing and the inflight meal.

Getting online is considerably straightforward. After clicking on the price of the plan you prefer - or the only plan there is, according to the aircraft type - you can login to your United MileagePlus frequent flyer account to complete the payment or make a quick check-out as a guest.

Even though guest check-out is faster, it is preferable using the MileagePlus option as it allows you to switch your connection and plan to other services (for instance, smartphone or tablet), whereas guest plans are non-transferable.

This is comfortable if you are working on your laptop when they serve the meal so you have to fold your try back, this is when you can get your smartphone out to continue where you left off.

As to payments, a variety of credit cards are accepted including the expected Visa and MasterCard along with American Express, Diners Club, Discover and JCB, plus payments from UATP accounts.

The payments are processed straight away and the receipt will go straight to your email account.