With blended travel growing exponentially, The Affluent Traveler Collection (ATC) hotel program has welcomed 25 properties offering villas and residences to its portfolio.
Blended travel, mixing business and leisure (also, “bleisure”) has been increasing over the past 15 years. Today, blended travel is a $594.5 billion market, according to Future Market Insights. It is expected to grow by 19.5 percent annually until 2033, when it reaches $3.53 trillion. Further, the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) says 60 percent of business travelers have taken a blended trip in the past year. Lastly, combining personal and professional travel is even more common among the affluent. According to YouGov, the well-off are twice as likely to add a leisure element to a business trip, than the average person.
The new properties that have been added to the ATC program are ideal for bleisure travel. Highlights include:
- The Athenaeum Hotel & Residences in London, offering serviced 550-square-foot Victorian red-brick townhomes
- Sunset Marquis in West Hollywood, complete with newly restyled villas, some with gourmet kitchens, grand pianos, private balconies and pool tables
- Andaz Mexico City Condesa, offering 20 suites with separate living and sleeping areas
What Blended Travelers Want
A majority of business travelers (82 percent) stay at the same place for both the work and personal portions of their trip, according to the GBTA. As a result, accommodations that offer business and leisure amenities enjoy an advantage.
Fast, free, secure Wi-Fi throughout the property is a must for blended travelers, so they can take a video call from the room, send an email from the restaurant or read a report poolside. Travelers want plenty of outlets and charging ports in convenient locations in their rooms and common areas.
Blended travelers crave a quiet, spacious room that adapts from productivity to play. In-room fitness equipment such as a yoga mat helps blended travelers unwind at the end of the workday.
Why Blended Travel Is Rising
Several factors are contributing to the tremendous upswing in blended travel. The growth in remote work has fostered a new acceptance of working from anywhere. Statista reports that the number of full-time remote workers grew from 17 percent pre-pandemic to 44 percent after. By next year, Upwork predicts they will number 32.6 million U.S. employees.
Combining work and play also ties into an increasing emphasis on work/life balance and well-being. The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) says 89 percent of business travelers want to add vacation time onto their next corporate trip.
Younger generations are more inclined to combine work and play during trips. Seventy-seven percent of Millennials extend their business trips for leisure purposes, according to MODIV Mindset.
As digital nomads become more common due to the expansion of the freelance economy, living and working from varied locations is more widespread. This has given rise to the “workation,” where a personal journey is the motivator for the blended trip instead of business.
Emerging Blended Travel Trends
"Hush trips" are the most recent evolution of blended travel. More remote employees are traveling for personal reasons while continuing to work, but not informing their company of their whereabouts. Another variation on workations is “laptop luggers,” travelers that work during leisure trips instead of fully disconnecting. Deloitte reports that the number of people who intend to work during their longest leisure trip surged from 19 percent in 2022 to 34 percent in 2023.
In all, the ATC hotel program includes 1,100 luxury properties worldwide. ATC is growing its roster of properties by prioritizing unique, boutique properties in demand by upscale travelers. Those hotels and resorts provide client amenities with an expected value of $1,000 per stay on average. For a family of four enjoying a two-bedroom residence during a week-long blended stay, the figure rises to at least $1,600.
For more information, visit www.theaffluenttraveler.com.
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