Flight Centre Business Travel has put together a list of five myths about travelling for work, as well as ways in which business travellers can deal with the challenges it brings.
While you might get to travel to different countries and cities, you will more than likely spend most of your time in taxis, meetings and hotel rooms. Unless you plan ahead to add some leisure time to your business trip, your experience of exotic countries will probably be what you see from the inside of taxis on your way to the hotel or back to the airport.
“The best way to manage this is by using a professional travel management company that can introduce you to the concept of ‘bleisure travel’ – mixing business travel with leisure,” says Michelle Jolley, corporate marketing manager for the Flight Centre Travel Group. “Although, as a business traveller, you’ll never have as much time for exploring as those on a leisure holiday, you can opt for a travel package that allows you time to balance work and play,” adds Jolley.
It might seem as if it will be easier and cheaper to make bookings yourself, but there are many things to consider. Organising flights, hotel bookings, airport transfers, lounge passes, insurance, car rental and loyalty points, as well as dealing with any problems that may arise, takes a lot of time – time you can spend on work or doing a bit of exploring. And that’s not even taking into account the admin around payments, budgets and monthly reconciliations.
“Research done by Flight Centre Business Travel shows that travel arrangements for almost 45% of all business trips are changed at least once. Managing these changes – and the effect they have on every other arrangement made – can be a nightmare if you’re not a travel expert,” says Jolley.
Business travel can be exhausting – you often end up with 12-hour days of back-to-back meetings and business dinners, while trying to overcome jet lag and a lack of sleep, just to hop back on your next long-haul flight. Having someone who can help manage it efficiently and in the most cost-effective way minimises stress and prevents fatigue.
It certainly is a great plan, but once reality sets in and you wearily ease back into your reclining seat, refreshment in hand and a choice of movies in front of you, the will to work on that important presentation often disappears.
Says Jolley: “One way in which this can be addressed is opting for mixed-class airfares, allowing you, for example, to fly economy class on the way to your destination and business class on the way back. That will make it easier for you to work on that important meeting agenda on your way there and sleep in total comfort on your way back, arriving home refreshed and ready to relay what you have learned during your trip.”
According to Jolley, it’s a common misconception that all business travellers travel business or first class. Some companies have instituted a time period or travel distance as the determining factors for the class of travel; others have a flat rule that everyone travels in economy class; and some base the decision on the budget for the trip.
