The line between business travel and leisure–call it "bleisure"– is blurring. More than 30% of all travel is business related, and eight out of ten business travelers spend additional time exploring their destinations, according to a recent survey by Bridgestreet Global Hospitality (2014).
After all, when in Rome (or New York, London or Hong Kong) travellers want to check out new cities and new sights. Allowing employees time to familiarise themselves with the local environment benefits employers, too.
This article discusses the corporate advantages of focusing on the end-to-end travel needs of today's business traveler, ways to support it with the best payment tools, and suggestions for adjusting company policy to help maximise the professional and personal advantages of this growing trend.
Seeing the big picture
Traditionally, companies handled the cost of airfare and hotel, leaving business travellers with the burden of handling incidental costs on their own. But this is changing.
As employees opt to add leisure time to their business travel, companies are finding ways to change their travel policies to accommodate this trend. Some are even willing to pay for employees to arrive a day or two ahead so they are rested when it is time for work. They're finding that customising company policies to suit employees' needs provides a range of benefits.
Extending trips for bleisure travel can actually increase cost savings. Companies save money by taking advantage of lower weekend travel fares. And with many hotels offering weekend packages for business travellers, adding a few extra days can enhance a business trip and make it more cost-effective, even as it increases business traveller satisfaction.
Employees benefit too. Seventy-eight percent of travellers in the Bridgestreet survey say bleisure adds value to work assignments, while 73% consider it a benefit of their employment.
End-to end payment tools
Companies are supporting bleisure travel with payment solutions that cover end-to-end travel costs. Two of the most frequently used solutions include individual plastic corporate travel and entertainment (T&E) cards and lodge and virtual cards.
Individual T&E cards offer greater flexibility, especially for frequent travellers, and can be used nearly anywhere in the world. Easily integrated into automated expense reporting solutions, employees can submit their expenses effortlessly. Companies can also monitor spending, collect data for reporting and gain insights into travel costs.
Lodge or virtual cards can enable companies to consolidate spending through selected vendors so they can benefit from discounts as their spend increases. With lodge cards, a 16-digit commercial credit account number is on file with the travel management company, making it easy to track travel expenses to a specific traveller. Companies use this data to reconcile expenses, ensure T&E program compliance, analyse spending and control costs.
Virtual cards use no plastic. Instead, a 16-digit number is used to process transactions. Companies can also set controls on transaction amounts and time frames to reduce fraud risk.
Passport for success
As more and more employees combine business travel with leisure, companies can deploy sophisticated payment options that suit their cash management goals. By tailoring these payment tools based on their employees' needs and their own need to establish controls, everyone wins.