The traditional boundaries between work and personal life are blurring, and the travel industry is adapting. Bleisure travel, the seamless blending of business and leisure, is a rapidly growing trend. Employees are increasingly looking to extend business trips for personal exploration, and employers are recognizing the benefits of offering this kind of flexibility. This shift allows travelers to not only fulfill their professional obligations but also discover new destinations, recharge their batteries, and return to work feeling refreshed and inspired. For those who crave a balance between work commitments and cultural immersion, bleisure travel truly offers the best of both worlds. And with the right planning and tools, it can be a seamless and rewarding experience.
Let’s delve into why bleisure travel is on the rise, how to make the most of it, and how Routespring can streamline the experience for everyone involved.
Why Bleisure Travel is Taking Off
Several factors are contributing to the popularity of bleisure travel:
- Changing Work Dynamics: Remote and hybrid work models are giving employees more flexibility in where and how they work, making it easier to tack on leisure time to business trips.
- Millennial and Gen Z Influence: Younger generations highly value experiences and work-life balance, driving the demand for travel that combines both.
- Company Recognition of Benefits: Employers are realizing that bleisure trips can boost morale, reduce burnout, and even attract and retain top talent.
- Evolving Travel Technology: Booking platforms and travel management tools are making it simpler for travelers to plan and manage bleisure trips.
How to Embrace the Bleisure Trend as an Employee
If you’re fortunate enough to have the flexibility to add leisure components to your work travel, here’s how to make it a success:
- Be Transparent with Your Employer: Have a conversation with your manager about your interest in extending your trip. Outline how it aligns with your work responsibilities and discuss any additional costs you’re happy to cover personally.
- Plan Strategically: Thoroughly research the destination, consider potential logistical issues, and make your leisure activity bookings outside official work hours.
- Separate Work and Play: During your designated workdays, maintain focus. Maximize those added leisure days by planning them intentionally.
- Seek Local Experiences: Step off the beaten tourist path. Sample local cuisine, seek out cultural attractions, or try a new activity that offers a true taste of the destination.
How Employers Can Support Bleisure Trips
Companies that want to nurture a positive and productive work environment should consider these proactive ways to support bleisure travel:
- Flexible Travel Policies: Outline clear, supportive guidelines for extending business trips, making it easy for employees to understand the process.
- Time-Off Recommendations: Offer suggestions for adding extra days to work trips without affecting PTO balances.
- Company Perks: Partner with hotels or airlines to secure discounts that employees can use for their leisure portion of the trip.
- Travel Management Support: Provide access to tools or a dedicated travel manager to assist with the logistics of booking and managing bleisure trips.
Routespring: Your Bleisure Travel Companion
Bleisure trips can introduce additional complexities in expense management and tracking. Routespring simplifies the process with an easy approval process to control spending using company funds and offering control by restricting the use of company funds at user-level i.e. some employees can be restricted to not use any company funds on their own.
The bleisure trend is here to stay. As work-life balance becomes an even higher priority and technology continues to simplify the process, we can expect to see even more seamless integration of business and leisure in the world of travel.