According to a survey released by online travel company Wotif earlier this year, over 85 percent of respondents try to include a leisure component in their business trip. Business travellers can do this in a few simple ways, such as by adding personal days either side of the trip. If you’re not on a tight schedule, arriving the day or a few days before a business appointment can help you to orientate yourself in a new location. You might also save on the fare by travelling off-peak, which can go towards the extra cost of accommodation.
Another way to balance business with pleasure is to think beyond the office. The ‘golf course’ meeting may receive some flak, but it can be an effective way to seal a deal and you can’t argue with a method that combines business and recreation, however unorthodox. If an international client is hosting you, you may be lucky to benefit from a healthy social program organised on your behalf.
Once again, a travel schedule with fixed dates will give you the best opportunity to exploit the leisure element as you can then commit to tours and look into prepaid savings. Fortunately, many conference organisers include social and recreational activities in conference programs, offering discounted excursions as part of the parcel.
Corporate travellers with changeable schedules may not be able to plan activities but should nevertheless actively seek ‘me’ time to recuperate from the business day. Whether this means exploring the town or calling home to speak to your kids, non-business activities are an important way to unwind from the day’s business. Even if it’s not quite ‘life’, this way you can aim for something resembling work–life balance.
An even better way to achieve work–life balance is to bring your family with you. Although this is not always possible, non work-related contact can prevent the trip from becoming a business only affair. Your company may have a policy that permits partners on trips with the extra fare coming from your pocket. Other policies are more flexible, says Wethmar. “Some companies say that business class is permitted for business travellers but if they are travelling with a spouse they can elect to use the value of that on two economy class tickets.”
Business Travel Packages
Packaging your trip can often be the most cost effective way to travel and it follows that the more productive the business trip, the less time overall time you’ll spend away from home.
“We would recommend consolidation wherever possible just because of the high cost,” says Laird. “More and more companies are combining meetings in one trip and do almost a road show instead of two or three trips because of all the hassles of immigration and the like. It’s exhausting for the traveller, but you get the very best value out of the ticket. It’s several thousand dollars worth of money and it’s also a lot of time spent away from friends and family.”
Unless you have an in-house travel specialist, a multi-stop trip is best organised through a TMC or a travel agent, simply because of the effort needed to co-ordinate several travel legs. Consultants can also advise on bonuses such as free stopovers or free flights on particular airlines, which could save you time and money.
Bundling personal travel with business travel can also save you money. For example, if you went on a business trip to the UK, you could arrange to take personal leave to tour Europe before flying back to Australia. Although you would pay your own way around Europe, you’ve saved most of a plane fare by piggybacking off your corporate travel.
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