INSIGHTS
Travel managers' guide to bleisure
Seeing lots of places without having to pay the fare? Sounds great for travellers but how about the travel manager...
There’s no question that the long overdue recognition of the importance of traveller welfare has been a good move for both travellers and companies – after all happy travellers are more productive and their trips tend to produce better outcomes.
Today’s demanding work schedules mean that more and more business travellers want to reduce stress and improve their life-work balance by adding a leisure stay to a business trip. This trend, which has been christened ‘bleisure’, sounds totally like a win-win, doesn’t it? Employee gets cost-effective break, employer gets happier and more productive employee.
But like all good ideas, it also needs a plan...
The organisation
As with everything with work in general. and travel management in particular, so much comes down to company culture. Some companies actually have strict policies preventing any extension to a business stay, but most are a lot more relaxed.
According to Jo Lloyd, “There’s not one way to do this. The whole approach has to be a reflection of the organisation you’re in.” However, there will be some universal specifics that need addressing.
The travel manager
Jo Lloyd, global head of account management and FCM Consulting said: “A business trip with bleisure needs to be managed within travel policy. For me, the key point is not what is the right or wrong policy to follow. The key thing is clarity. Travellers need to be clear on what is and isn’t covered.”
Clarity suggests that a review of travel policy might be needed - and that means identifying the relevant internal stakeholders. This will vary from organisation to organisation; someone might own travel but others might own risk and people. HR and insurance should certainly be represented, but sometimes the person responsible for insurance is actually in the finance team.
Once the travel manager has identified the stakeholders, they need to get them together to agree a company policy.
"Travellers need to be clear on what is and isn't covered"
The policy
Every organisation will do it differently but there are some common issues to consider when creating the bleisure guidelines within a travel policy:
1. Process
It is essential to work out a methodology for defining how the line between business travel time and leisure time is determined. Consider whether this should be incorporated into the request to travel.
2 Insurance
Corporate insurance policies differ and whether or not the traveller is covered when the business element of the trip ends will come down to individual policies. Travellers need to be made aware not only of whether they are covered on the leisure segment but for what – people in sober business suits on Friday have been known to abseil and parachute or Saturday. Are all activities covered or does the employee need their own personal travel insurance?
3. Duty of care and risk management
Travel disruption can happen at any time, anywhere. If an incident happens during the leisure segment of the trip, has their location been tracked to ensure they are safe?
4. Forms of payment and data
The best hotel for total business costs and productivity might be near to the destination while for leisure travel a buzzier part of the city where the bars and restaurants predominate might be preferable. If a traveller moves to different accommodation after the business trip, there will automatically be clarity around the payment and data elements.
However, there are business destinations (think Milan, Barcelona, Edinburgh) where travellers might want to extend their stay in the same property. If so, will the hotel let them keep the room at the corporate rate? That corporate rate, however, might be higher than the weekend rate as many hotels in business districts offer low rates at the weekend to fill the rooms that are in less demand at these times.
What happens about cost, payment and data? Does the traveller settle the bill on their individual corporate card on Friday, then start a new bill to be cleared with their personal card on Sunday? If it is one bill and the traveller pays on one card, with the aim of being reimbursed only for the business element, what happens about collecting the right data?
The process the company expects the traveller to follow must be made explicit.
5 Cost
Responsibility for the division of the costs needs to be spelled out so that both employer and employee are clear as to what expenses are reimbursable and which are not. For example, is the return to the airport for the flight home covered by the business (they would have had to pay anyway) or does it become the responsibility of the traveller once the trip becomes a leisure break?
“The general rule of thumb is that a trip with bleisure shouldn’t cost the company any more than a trip without,” says Jo. However, rules need to be agreed by stakeholders and incorporated into travel policy.
The communication
The key to success, explains Jo Lloyd, is clarity and making sure people understand what’s expected of them. Organisations must let their travellers know what their stance is and what the employer expects of the traveller and what the traveller can expect from the employer.