Rebecca Hollants Van
Loocke is chief operating officer, EMEA, at Frasers Hospitality
Anyone making predictions about the future of business travel over the next 18 months could be forgiven for painting a very bleak picture indeed.
Not only are some corporate travel managers dealing with significant shortfalls in their 2022 budgets, but they’re also flying headlong into a cost of operating crisis, the likes of which hasn’t been seen for decades.
But while the ‘trip avoidance’ that Steve Reynolds, founder and CEO of hotel shopping service Tripbam, wrote about just a few months ago is a grim reality for budget holders reading this right now, it’s the prevailing will of business travellers themselves that offers room for optimism.
The fact is people want to travel for work – maybe not so often, and maybe not in quite the same way as they did pre-pandemic – but the desire to meet in person and build relationships in a way only face-to-face connections can deliver means demand for business trips remains encouragingly high.
The desire to get back to ‘normal’ is a key driver here along with a growing realisation that IRL – in real life – does have its plus points over virtual after all. But maybe there’s something else at play here too – a clear reconsideration of the benefits of bleisure travel at a senior level.
It’s certainly not a new concept, but the blending of business and personal travel could be set to take on a new lease of life as employees take advantage of the remote working revolution to demand more from their time out of the office, while companies see an opportunity to promote employee wellbeing, attract and retain good staff and do their bit to protect the planet all at the same time.
Where extending business trips or bringing the family along for a holiday while the employee works was previously frowned upon or altogether dismissed, ‘at the discretion of your manager’ is now taking on a whole new meaning.
In this new world of improved work/life balance where companies have placed greater significance on employee wellbeing, it appears there is more openness to bleisure from senior managers following the strains of the pandemic on morale and professional opportunity.
More and more organisations are starting to allow employees to work from alternative locations or tag on family time to their business trips because they realise how attractive that makes them as employers. Why shouldn’t staff be able to spend time relaxing with those who matter most after the work is done if it means they are happier, healthier and ultimately more productive during their trip?
Combining business and leisure not only makes sense for employee retention, it also allows employees to use essential travel to their advantage, reducing individual impact on the environment by travelling less and staying longer while they are away. And that’s good news for companies like us who are doing everything they can to reduce their carbon footprint and tread lighter on our planet in the drive towards net zero and a more sustainable future.
These newly-framed considerations around cost, wellbeing and the environment are translating into an uptick in booking numbers for the serviced apartment arm of our business.
The two or three-night stays are still happening, and we expect they always will, but we’re also seeing much greater demand for two, three and four-week stays across our entire portfolio as companies and their employees look for a more comfortable, cost-effective and greener guest experience.
Our long stay and group business across our UK & German properties accounts for 26 per cent of our revenue this year compared to 22 per cent in 2019, while 96 per cent of our long stay business is now staying longer than 28 nights compared to 77 per cent at the same point three years ago.
So, while the bleisure revolution isn’t quite in full swing when it comes to reframing corporate policies, there is definitely a noticeable shift in employees' length of stay and the types of accommodations they choose in destination.