Travel has gained momentum post covid and travellers of all kinds can now be seen on the roads, out to explore new destinations. A not-so-unfamiliar category of travellers, known as the bleisure traveller is a common sight to see. The hospitality industry has seen value in these bleisure travellers and is, therefore, keen to tap into their potential to bring financial gains. This blog will take you through the steps you need to take to attract bleisure travellers to your hotel.
What is Bleisure Travel?
Bleisure travel, as the name suggests, is a combination of business and leisure travel. Often business travellers during their work trips, opt to extend their stays to enjoy the sights and sounds of the place they’re staying in, essentially, mixing leisure time with their business. This leads to the term we now refer to as bleisure.
It is expected that there will be a growth of leisure travellers in the coming future as well. As bleisure travellers visit new destinations they are most likely to bring along family members, friends or travel partners.
Who Belongs to the Bleisure Traveller Category?
- According to studies young travellers occupy a larger portion of the bleisure traveller category, as compared to older ones. It holds a universal appeal, negating any generational divide.
- It is found that people who work in industries like healthcare, technology or the public sector are more likely to travel for business and extend their stays for leisure.
- The most common duration of stay varies between 2 to 3 nights.
- Gender also plays a role in determining who takes bleisure trips more often. It is seen that women are more likely to extend their days as compared to men, though, generally, it is the men who travel more often for business.
- People who extended stays for bleisure are most likely to enjoy their stays by themselves, instead of in the company of others. This means that accommodation providers must be prepared to cater to any of the two kinds of scenarios.
Why is Bleisure Travel a Great Idea?
The very idea of combining business with leisure shows that employees who travel for work and do not find the time to engage in any leisure activities get an opportunity to let their hair down, relax and enjoy the place and the community that day visit when they’re on their bleisure trips. This is a fantastic morale booster and motivator for employees to perform better. Since business trips are financed by employers it reduces travel expenses for their extended stay.
Since business travel takes away a lot of the stress of work, it makes employees more productive and willing to travel for work, which they may otherwise find cumbersome. Employees usually pay for the extended period of time and the leisure activities that they indulge in, making the trip less costly. In turn, the rise in bleisure travel increases opportunities for hotels to make revenue.
Given below are some potent ways of attracting bleisure travellers to your hotel. Read on.
Ways to Attract Bleisure Travellers:
1. Use of Technology:
Bleisure travellers prefer hotels which use technology to simplify travel as well as improve the quality of their stay. For example, hotels that have a web booking engine integrated into their website make checking room availability and reservations easier. Similarly, a Property Management System allows a hotel to manage day-to-day operations better such as storing information about a guest’s preferences and enabling a hotel to offer relevant services. Touchless technology connected to a PMS also makes check-ins and check-outs easy, without having to make a guest wait in line.
2. Stable and Reliable Internet Facility:
A bleisure traveller’s business demands require him/her to have access to a workstation, as well as a stable and high-speed internet connection to download and upload files or to conduct and be a part of video calls. Hotels looking to attract bleisure travellers must make arrangements for this key requirement and maybe charge a nominal rent for the service used.
3. Choosing Your Distribution Partners Wisely:
For a hotel that uses distribution channels to attract travellers from across the world, having a well-thought-out online network is important to receiving consistent and adequate reservations. The same applies when you are attracting bleisure travellers. Hospitality Technology like a Channel Manager can help hotels in connecting with distribution partners which connect with business travellers.
4. Promoting Specific Segments:
Segmenting your target audience and offering products and services that are relevant to them is the simplest way of making them feel special. When hotels create special packages or discount offers that are meant specifically for bleisure travellers, it saves them money and brings hotels more opportunities to serve them and the people who accompany them. Gathering more data about travellers can also help hotels personalize their offerings to their guests.
5. Highlighting your Hotel’s Bleisure Offerings:
Showcasing your hotel’s business and leisure offerings is key to attracting bleisure travellers. A bleisure traveller would like amenities such as a laptop, charging ports, office stationery, headphones etc, which would enable him to conduct his business well. In addition to these, they would also like leisure amenities like a spa, sauna swimming pool, gaming area etc.
Conclusion:
Bleisure travel is here to stay and might even soon become the preferred mode of working for corporates. Given the immense potential it holds for hotels, it is crucial for accommodation providers to prepare themselves for this market segment. We hope the above-mentioned pointers will help you in doing so. Hotelogix’s software suite consists of Property Management System, Channel Manager and Web Booking Engine that can all contribute to achieving this goal. To know more about us visit www.hotelogix.com
This article was originally published on partner sites.