US: A new survey from BridgeStreet Global Hospitality has revealed “an overwhelmingly positive sentiment toward blending business travel with leisure”.
The company released the results of the worldwide survey of more than 640 recent guests at the Serviced Apartment Summit this year, where BridgeStreet‘s vice president of marketing Kelly Murphy spoke on a panel discussing “the bleisure principle”.
Murphy said: “Employees feel bleisure opportunities benefit them and add value to work assignments, contributing to higher job satisfaction and loyalty. The majority of our guests surveyed have taken bleisure trips before, also noting they are equally or more likely to blend business and leisure travel in the future compared to five years ago. Emerging trends are important for the serviced apartment industry to not only be aware of, but to leverage, as our products benefit the needs of both the business and leisure guest.”
Additional findings from the survey show:
• 83% of respondents use free time on business trips to explore the city they’re visiting
• The majority of respondents (60%) have taken bleisure trips, with most adding two vacation days to business trips
• The three most popular bleisure activities are: 1.) Sightseeing, 2.) Dining and 3.) Arts/Culture
• 96% of respondents believe they gain cultural experience/knowledge through bleisure trips
• More than half of bleisure travellers bring their family members or significant other with them
• 78% of respondents agree that adding leisure days to business travel adds value to work assignments
• 94% of younger travelers (under 35) are “more than” or “equally” likely to take a bleisure trip in the next five years – significantly higher than the worldwide average at 60%
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