Bleisure travel: Small hotels’ guide to boosting bookings

What is bleisure travel?

Bleisure travel is a trend in which travellers combine their business and leisure trips, to enhance work travel by adding rest, relaxation and local experiences.

Beyond this basic bleisure definition, this form of travel represents a real opportunity for small, independent hotels who take the time to focus on it. It can help you attract an entirely new type of guest – one that just happens to help you fill mid-week and low season lulls.

In this guide we’ll break down bleisure travel, to understand what it is, why it’s important, and how your hotel can capitalise on this trend.

Why small hotels should care about bleisure travel

Small hotels should focus on bleisure travel for a few key reasons:

• It’s a fast-growing market that many hotels wouldn’t have proactively tapped before.
• Bleisure travellers, like corporate guests, can be less price sensitive than pure leisure travellers.
• This demographic consistently travels mid-week and through low season, helping you to fill your rooms during lulls.
• They also tend to stay longer than the average leisure traveller, as they need time to both work and explore.

By actively working to attract bleisure travellers, you grant yourself the opportunity to earn more bookings, make more money on each, and tap a whole new market of potential guests.

Bleisure travel trends: The rise of bleisure travel

The popularity of bleisure travel has been on the rise for decades. Initially the driving force of this trend was the internet, which enabled more and more professionals to work remotely. Then COVID proved to employers that many roles didn’t have to be office-bound at all.

As a consequence, travelling for work slowly transformed from an obligation to an opportunity for corporate travellers. They realised that they could take the time to explore the destinations they were passing through, and potentially extend their stays through remote work.

In more recent years there has been a rise in accommodation that caters primarily to this type of traveller – boutique hotels that offer in-room and communal workspaces, meeting rooms, conference centres, ‘work and play’ packages, and deals for longer-term stays.

Bleisure travel statistics

• Between 2023-2033 the global bleisure travel market is expected to grow 5x, from $600 billion to $3 trillion.
• In 2023, 84% of US business travellers wanted to add some vacation time to their next corporate trip, and 48% had taken a bleisure trip in the past year.
• In the UK, 42% of surveyed travellers added leisure stays to their business trips.
• A 2022 Marriott report found the length of business traveller stays was up 20% from 2019, hinting at the rise in bleisure travel.
• 62% of CEOs expect to increase their corporate travel budgets next year.

How small hotels can attract bleisure travellers

Attracting corporate, bleisure and leisure travellers is about offering value, making your guest experience as smooth as possible, setting your hotel up as a tempting temporary workplace, and helping the guest maximise their non-work time.

Here are a few strategies to do just that.

Flexible booking options

Encourage extended stays by offering a discounted weekend rate to people who stay with you on weekdays, or with week-long deals (e.g. 15% off a 7-day stay). Use a booking engine to allow your guests to book directly with you while eradicating OTA fees.

Work-friendly amenities

Offer in-room and communal workspaces with fast Wi-Fi, comfortable and ergonomic furniture, and quiet environments for meetings or video calls.

Local partnerships

Partner with local co-working spaces or cafes to give your guests different workspace options. Work with local guides to offer tours outside of office hours.

Personalised guest services

Ask your guests how you might be able to help them to work and explore during their stay, then personalise their guest experience based on those answers.

Customised bleisure packages

Consider developing “work and play” packages for bleisure travellers, that might include discounts for extended stays, after hours tours or complimentary access to co-working spaces.

Bleisure travel examples

Looking for more inspiration on how to cater to bleisure travellers? The following examples are a great place to start:

• A boutique hotel partnering with local tour guides for unique guest experiences held outside the 9-5 workday.
• A countryside retreat offering remote work packages with nature excursions
• A city hotel providing workspace + spa package deals for business travelers
• A beachfront resort offering pre-work surf lessons and post-work sunset cruises
• A luxury hotel offering tempting weekend deals on connecting rooms so bleisure travellers can invite their families.

“My only regret about Little Hotelier is that I didn’t use it sooner. It blows my mind how powerful it is, it makes my life so much easier. Little Hotelier frees up my time so I actually can grow my business.”

Sean O’Neill,

Owner

Devereux Residences

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Tools to manage the new wave of bleisure travellers

The trend toward bleisure travel represents an incredible opportunity. But your hotel needs the assistance of the right tools to fully capitalise on it.

You should consider implementing a direct booking engine that lets travellers easily book and extend their stays directly with you. Such an in-house booking system also gives you total control over custom packages and deals designed to bring more bleisure business in.

But even when you work hard to maximise direct bookings, you can’t ignore the importance of OTAs. A quality channel manager will connect to all your booking channels, and allow you to control rates, availability and info across all of them in a few quick clicks.

Finally, you need to ensure that the guest experience is a good one. Guest engagement tools can help you to streamline communication and personalise the experience of every bleisure traveller you host.

One tool that does all this and a whole lot more? Little Hotelier.