Anyone that travels frequently for business will know that there’s occasional travel perks to enjoy. One of these is making the most of business trips, by extending them for a short ‘vacay’. This fusion of business and leisure travel, better known as ‘bleisure’, is on the rise.
In a recent study, 75 per cent of business travellers admitted that they had extended their work trip for leisure – in most cases, multiple times. More interestingly still, this travel perk was observed more in workers that take five or more trips a year.
Bleisure trips can take many forms, however in most cases it involves extending your trip over the weekend, to make the most of your new surroundings.
With ‘bleisure’ travel quite so popular, we’ve put together eight considerations to help get the most out of your trip:
1 - Have a Plan
The first rule of ‘Bleisure club’ is having a plan! This might be just to relax by the pool, or it might be seeing the local sights. Whatever your intention, be sure to think it through in advance and plan accordingly.
You might find that popular tourist attractions get booked out in advance, so it’s best to get in there early. If your hotel doesn’t have a gym or pool, then some forward planning will enable you to find the nearest one.
If you have just 48 hours to discover a city or less, it’s worth having a mental plan of what you’d like to do.
Family Matters
Occasionally, you may invite your partner or children with you on a business trip. It’s best to consult your corporate guidelines in advance, as there may be some concessions around this.
Travel perks aside, you may find that it’s better for your family to join you once your free time starts. This may be less distracting than having to entertain them during your trip. After all, as we all too often know – being on business means plenty of meals that spill into the evening.
Insurance
Typically, your work insurance policy will only cover you for remote working during business time. Particularly if your trip is abroad, you may want to take out insurance for the extension of your trip. Rarely is travel insurance extended as a travel perk, so it’s important to make sure you have adequate cover for wherever you visit.
Money Matters
To avoid any confusion when it comes to work expenses, you may prefer to keep things separate. This means having a separate hotel, or payment card for your leisure part of the stay.
As long as there’s no extra costs to your company, it should be reasonable to book return trains or flights around your extended stay too. When in doubt, check your company guidelines.
Box Ticking
Quite often, work travel takes you to destinations you might not have otherwise visited. From the wilderness of the Hebrides to the bustling metropolis of the city. One of the travel perks of visiting new places is getting under the skin of destination.
Take the opportunity to explore by staying on a few extra days. If you’re not sure where to start, find the local listings pages online, or grab a copy of Time Out (if applicable). You’ll see that there’s always a new pop-up or event to check out.
A quick online search will uncover some of the best tourist sites or events to visit. Better still, Instagram is a rich source of inspiration for where to go and what to see.
If you’re keen to swot up on the local culture, aim for two or three attractions a day, so you’ve got some energy in reserve.
Keep to a Budget
If you travel a lot for work, then ‘bleisure’ trips can start to add up. If your travel perk is become an expensive habit, there’s a few ways to budget for your travels.
The first of these is by checking out free events and sights to visit in the area. There’s plenty of online resources that can help uncover these in just a few clicks.
Secondly, try and stay in reasonably affordable hotels, or perhaps even Airbnb to bring costs down. If you’re travelling even once every quarter, a saving of £100 could mean an annual saving of £400.
Alone Time
If one of the reasons for your trip is to enjoy some time out on your own, then don’t announce your trip extension to work colleagues! This may prove difficult if they decide to jump on the bandwagon and extend their stay too – much better you keep it on the down low and avoid the potential conflict.
Get Loyal
If you’re a frequent ‘bleisure’ traveller, then sign up to loyalty clubs for hotels, trains, planes, supermarkets, petrol stations and so forth. Loyalty all adds up, and in return you can benefit from the travel perks that come with it.
