What label do you use when you travel and combine your business affairs with leisure? Is it bleisure? Or do you prefer to say bizcation?
Either way, I don’t know about you, I’ve been combining business with mini vacations for years without assigning a label to it. People in the hospitality industry seem to prefer bleisure.
Annually in Europe, 30 percent of travelers are businesspeople. Ostensibly, many are increasingly adding days to their business travels to take a leisure break. Hoteliers welcome the trend.
“More than one in two bleisure travelers bring a family member or significant other with them and pay the excess,” says Michelle Mangan, who coordinates digital marketing for The Europe Hotel & Resort in Fossa, Killarney, Co. in Kerry, Ireland.
“The three most popular bleisure activities are sightseeing, dining and arts or culture,” she explains. She would know. The Europe Hotel & Resort is a five-star luxury hotel.
“When it comes to company policies and bleisure travel, only fourteen percent of employees are actually aware of any formal policy around it within their company, but seventy-three percent feel that bleisure opportunities benefit them as an employee,” Ms. Mangan says from her Irish perspective.
Yes, it’s been popular for American businesspeople, too, for a long time and is likely to increase as businesspeople seek to create value for themselves.
Combining business travel with vacations is, of course, practical. By adding vacation days to a business trip, your travel costs are minimized because you can deduct the business portion.
It’s a natural for entrepreneurs who are self-employed. But, of course, anyone can do it.
Deductible expenses
Did you ever notice professional organizations hold their conventions at favorite tourist destinations? Why? It’s possible for participants to deduct some of those travel costs as business expenses.
If you’re careful, you can write off some expenses on your vacation. That’s not to say you can turn your vacation into a tax deduction. It’s a complicated issue.
The Internal revenue service approves deducting legitimate expenses that promote your company.
So don’t extend your personal stay too long. The IRS wants the primary purpose of your trip to be for business. (See 8 Strategies for Business Tax Deductions on Your Vacation.)
For sheer opulence, I’m intrigued by Ms. Mangan’s hotel. (No worries, I haven’t been there nor have I nor will I get any compensation for this article. I’m merely impressed by her polite, marketing approach.)
With beautiful views, the hotel overlooks the world famous Lakes of Killarney. It has a conference and event center with premium spas with great opportunities for golfing and other relaxing activities. They range from hiking to tennis.
From the Coach’s Corner, here are related business travel tips:
Before You Travel Abroad, Take 6 Financial Precautions Today — Whether you’re traveling to a foreign country for business or pleasure — there are at least six steps you should take. You need to do more than just making sure that your passport is current, planning your itinerary or deciding what to pack.
Travel — How to Avoid Foreign Currency-Exchange Fees — When traveling abroad for vacation or business, foreign currency-exchange fees can get costly for thrifty-minded people. There are steps you can take to avoid extra fees in exchanging currency. The pitfalls to avoid range from using airport exchange tables to using credit cards that surcharge the purchase of products and services.
11 Travel Tips – Save Money, Prevent against Cyber Theft, Fraud — The most vulnerable travelers are businesspeople. That’s because they have to use Internet and e-mail. They’re in danger expressly from vulnerabilities, such as from wirelessly accessible passports to using WIFI.
To avoid the Agony of Lost Luggage: 6 Precautions — You’ve confidently waited at the airport’s carousel for your luggage. But it wasn’t there. Your hands began to perspire as you became more apprehensive. Next came the migraine. If an airline has ever lost your luggage, you know how aggravating it is. It’s a major inconvenience. Here’s how to prevent it.
13 of the Best Business Travel Tips — Jet lag, bad hotel beds, and lost luggage – just a few of the miseries of business travel. But travel is vital to manage operations, close sales and to build relationships.
“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”
-Saint Augustine
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