The Blurred Lines of Bleisure Travel Demands Updated Policies

In the era of remote work, many employees feel the need to maximize business travel and remote work and may mix the two, a trend known as 'bleisure' travel.

An August 2022 survey by Booking.com questioned adults who planned to travel for business or leisure in the next 12-24 months. The survey found 59% of respondents said traveling and exploring new places inspired them to be more productive at work.

Additionally, the 2024 American Express Business Travel Survey¹ was conducted in June 2024 with 1,012 full-time employees who traveled by air at least twice in the past 12 months. The report found that 87% of Millennials and Gen-Z see business travel as an opportunity for career growth/development.

On a personal level, the highest number of business travelers (87%) noted the appeal of exploring new cities and places on business trips, while 75% valued adding a family trip. Furthermore, 80% agree that they try to carve out time on business trips to explore their destination.  

Unsurprisingly, bleisure is becoming more common. A report released in August 2023 by the Global Business Travel Association found that of 4,700 business travelers surveyed, 62% are blending business with travel. However, this trend can create headaches for companies without clear employee travel policies and the technology to manage them.    

How can companies leverage technology and update their travel policies to keep up with the demand for bleisure travel? What role does expense management software, including automated expense reporting, mobile apps, and real-time expense tracking, play in helping companies balance the pros and cons of bleisure travel? Additionally, how can technology mitigate risks, such as fraud and an employer's duty of care?

Types of Bleisure Travel

Bleisure travel can come in several different forms. Employees may extend their work trips by adding vacation days before or after the business trip. They might also choose to bring their family with them or have them arrive before or after their business commitment. "We’re currently seeing a trend where companies are shifting their focus from goods to services,” said Steve Sear, EVP, Global Sales and Distribution, Delta Air Lines, at the 2024 GBTA Convention in Atlanta. “Within that shift, travel is at the top of the list for both consumers and businesses - it’s becoming an experiential economy.” 

When allowed to work remotely, employees may even relocate to a vacation location. Once there, they may travel around the area, using the vacation spot as their home base. This can include visits to nearby cities, cultural exploration, and adventure travel. They might also invite friends and family to visit them for short or extended stays.

"In our recent survey, 67% of travelers have said they have taken a bleisure trip. I think this is a consequence of people trying to make the most of their time, as well as the younger generations entering the workforce. Gen Z and Millennials are really driving the trend of blended travel," said Fernando Iraola, EVP & GM, Global & US Large Enterprises at American Express, at GBTA.

Challenges of Bleisure Travel for Employers

With rising interest in bleisure, there are several challenges that companies can understand and address. For example, companies cannot permit personal expenses to become business expenses. Productivity can also be a concern, as is managing perceptions of fairness when allowing employees to take advantage of bleisure travel versus those who remain in-person or hybrid employees.

Interestingly, the Amex Trendex found that the rise of remote work means that some employees are commuting longer yet less frequently or even on an ad-hoc basis, but almost three-quarters (72%) of companies with hybrid or remote employees expect them to come to the office more frequently than they did last year. This leaves companies grappling with what’s a commute and what’s reimbursable travel to the office, and they are currently split on what to cover: just under one-third (32%) cover travel costs for remote or hybrid employees to travel to the office, 37% may cover on a case-by-case basis, and 30% don’t cover at all.  

With these findings in mind, bleisure travel can prove administratively burdensome. Allowing employees to work remotely should not create excessive health and safety risks or expose a company's data and intellectual property to unauthorized access. There's also a risk employees could engage in fraud, even accidentally, by classifying their personal expenses as business-related.

Technology to Manage Bleisure Travel

While bleisure travel can complicate the employee travel management process, each of these challenges can either be eradicated or mitigated with technology.

Expenses

The inherent complexity of managing bleisure travel stems from the challenge of classifying expenses quickly and accurately. Automated expense reporting captures and categorizes expenses from transactions, allowing employees to separate business and personal travel expenses quickly and seamlessly, especially if they can do so via a mobile app. It also reduces the manual effort of expense reporting and the potential for error, misstatements, and excessive delays in submitting expense reimbursement requests.

Integrating travel booking with the expense system is also critical. It facilitates the process and removes much of the administrative burden from employees, making it easier for them to submit timely and accurate expense reports.

Consequently, employers can see expenses in real time, making monitoring and adjusting travel-related budgets easier. This visibility can also detect policy violations before they become repetitive.  

Analytics and reporting technology provide insights into travel spending patterns, which companies can use to refine their travel policies, amend department budgets, and facilitate the employee experience. For example, suppose the travel data shows that employees opt for certain airlines or hotels when traveling to and from a location. In that case, an employer may be able to negotiate better rates and terms.

Company Data

The right technology solutions can ensure employees access company data using safe and secure platforms. For example, virtual private networks can make it harder for unauthorized users to access company data when an employee uses public Wi-Fi networks. Similarly, mobile device management software allows companies to manage devices remotely, which includes erasing sensitive data if a device becomes lost or stolen. This is in addition to standard security technology, including antivirus, multi-factor authentication, and secure file-sharing technology.

Employee Tracking and Safety

Additionally, there are many technology solutions to help employers track employees' locations, from GPS tracking to check-in systems to remote work tools. Regardless of the solution, every employee must understand and consent to any technology if it's being used to monitor their location and activities. This will facilitate compliance with regulations and relevant laws and can help an employer build and maintain employee trust.

Employers should also be able to locate employees quickly for business-related reasons or in case of emergency. Here, too, technology can help.

The Takeaway

Bleisure travel is a natural outcome and companion to remote/hybrid work. It's also an excellent way for in-office employees to be rewarded for sacrificing personal time for business travel. Proactive and flexible company policies and a robust suite of technology tools designed to monitor and optimize the travel experience can be critical. When handled correctly, employees and employers can benefit from bleisure travel in all its forms.

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¹ https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/newsroom/articles/amex-for-business/amex-trendex--business-travel-edition-2024.html

METHODOLOGY:

The business traveler survey was conducted among a sample of 1,012 respondents who are employed full time, traveled by air for work 2 or more times in the past 12 months and submit their own travel expenses. The business travel decision-maker survey was conducted among a sample of 502 respondents who are employed full-time as business travel decision makers for companies with 50 or more employees. Both online surveys were live on June 7-14, 2024. 

The Trending Business Travel Destinations were selected based on American Express commercial customer transactions at US hotels, looking at growth over a 12-month period between April 2022-March 2023 and April 2023-March 2024.