The Rise of Bleisure: How SMEs can manage business-leisure combined trips
A bleisure trip blends business travel with leisure time and the interest of this style of travel is quickly growing, with it making a work trip more enjoyable than ever before.
New research shows a massive three-quarters of UK SMEs extend business trips for leisure, with a survey indicating there was a 28% increase in this form of travel last year.
Radisson Hotels previously noted the change too, as they say business travellers used to book for one to two nights, but this has now increased to three to four nights as average minimum stays.
With this in mind, we’re looking at how people are maximising business travel and how you can manage bleisure activities as an SME.
What is bleisure and how is it connected to business travel?
In a bleisure trip, the primary focus is the business portion but it offers the traveller an opportunity to spend additional time exploring for their own purposes.
For example, if an employee is visiting a three-day event for business in Paris, they may then ask to stay for another two days so they can see the city of love in their own time. Like normal, the company would pay for the business-portion of the trip, with the employee covering the leisure side.
Essentially, it’s an effective way for people to achieve two things at once as the business needs can be ticked off followed by some free time visiting a new destination.
Why bleisure can be beneficial for SMEs
In a previous survey by Booking.com, 59% of employed people said travelling and exploring new places inspires them to be more productive in their work. 57% also said they would extend their work trips to experience a destination using time off.
It’s evident to see why an employee may wish to extend their business trip to add in some personal time, as it provides them a greater chance to explore and get the most out of having already travelled to a destination.
Not only can this result in an improved work-life balance, but it means employees feel like they have better choices over how they spend their time.
As for the business, the increased employee satisfaction on the trip could result in a boost of productivity upon returning to the office as they will come back feeling refreshed and more motivated. It could also be a signal to other potential employees that the business has flexible travel policies and more modern values.
Overall, it’s a more sustainable approach to travel too as two purposes can be achieved in one. This is a bonus if the traveller has been rewarded with an incentive trip, as both can take place without the need for further travel.
How to manage business-leisure combined trips as an SME
While a bleisiure trip can be fruitful for all involved, there are ways to ensure it goes off without a hitch. Here are four measures to put in place before the travelling begins.
Create a bleisure-related travel policy or add it into the current
If you don’t yet have a travel policy, you need to introduce one before someone goes on a trip. If you’re unsure on how to approach this, we have a full guide detailing all the key points here.
This is usually a short document which provides guidelines to your employees, including how they should book travel, what they’re entitled to (expenses wise and accommodation or transport budgets), what limits are in place, while also providing information on how they should prepare to ensure their safety.
Once you have this, you could make a separate one for bleisure-related trips or simply add in a section on this within the original policy. To do this, think about the grey areas and approach these first as that’s where the questions typically stem from.
Include the definition of bleisure trips and clarify that business travel should always remain the primary purpose of the trip. There should be guidance on who can take these trips and when or under what conditions. Does there need to be an additional approach? If so, how does an employee go about gaining this?
Within the update, you should outline which costs will be paid for by the business and which is classed as a personal experience. The traveller will need to know how to go about paying for personal travel too. Other items to add to a travel policy are:
- Add examples of expense claims that would be accepted versus those that wouldn’t be
- Explain duty of care as an employer and how traveller tracking works during bleisure trips
- Emergency procedures for both sides of the trip – personal and business
- Require an itinerary or explanation of dates and purposes upon request for the trip to be changed to bleisure
With the additions, the policy should be reshared to everyone in the business, so they are aware of how this style of trip works going forward.
Set boundaries from the beginning and educate travellers
The boundaries of a bleisure trip can start to blur if you don’t define them from the beginning which is why the split needs to be outlined.
This form of travel only works when there is open communication and trust in one another, with this then helping to avoid confusion and overspend. To start with, the parts of the trip which are only business-focused need to be specified.
The personal portion, referring to extra hotel nights, companion travel, leisure activities and bookings, and upgraded rooms, or more, should be clarified too. Typically, this is paid for by the employee and it should be classed as their responsibility, unless it falls under an incentive or reward trip.
To prevent any future disagreements, an itinerary should be submitted by the traveller which shows business and leisure dates separately.
Set out expense claims agreement and separate costs
Now that the boundaries have been put in place, it’ll be easier to separate the costs from the beginning. This will allow you to understand the budget from the get-go, while it also removes the need for further admin work post-trip.
While it can be confusing when first approaching the nature of the trip, start by pricing the business-side of the event. This should be carried out in the same way as usual, by establishing a baseline cost and adding the price of transport, accommodation, and the allowed expenses.
Any personal expenses which are to be paid for by the traveller should be done during this point too, while the others will be billed to the company like normal.
If you’re using a travel management company, they will be able to assist with this (and all the other stages too!) and will enforce consistency and manage expectations from the beginning.
Maintain duty of care as a business
As a business, you must adhere to the duty of care regarding employees. This means taking the necessary steps to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of team members – even when they’re out of the office and traveling for work.
When embarking on a business trip, it’s imperative you have visibility into where the travellers are as this will allow you to react quickly and appropriately in an emergency. You must also make sure the traveller has the right travel insurance and that they are aware of who to contact should something go awry. There needs to be a point of contact who is reachable at all times, regardless of the hour.
Speak to experts to plan the ultimate bleisure trip as an SME
We know how it can be as a small and medium-sized business, with budgets to always keep in consideration while juggling multiple responsibilities and gearing up for growth.
There are a lot of decisions to make which is why partnering with a travel management company can help take the pressure off.
Rather than trying to plan everything alone, whether it’s your first bleisure trip to manage or your ninth, working with experts can make the process as smooth as possible. At Good Travel Management, we understand the unique challenges faced by businesses and offer tailored solutions to meet your specific needs.
To get started with planning a smooth bleisure trip for employees, book a free consultation with us here.
Also if you ever have guilt about booking time off on your business trip, you should check out our bleisure guilt page.