Bleisure Travel, a Growing Trend in Hospitality

In showrooms and booths at NeoCon 2024, many companies and manufacturers talked about bleisure travel, a growing trend in the hospitality industry. It was mentioned in regard to furniture, color palettes, material selections, and more. With the travel industry roaring back after the pandemic, this trend is impacting interior design for hospitality.

What exactly is bleisure travel?

According to Forbes magazine, “It’s combining a work trip with an extended vacation before, during or after the work event.” The pandemic fueled this type of travel for a few different reasons. First, it suddenly became a lot easier for people to work from anywhere. Also, after being stuck close to home for so long, people were hungry to travel. Yet, travel prices were high as demand soared. If work gave them a reason to go somewhere, why not extend the trip?

It’s important to note that bleisure travel is different from being a digital nomad. In that case, people are traveling and working remotely from various locations. Bleisure is about adding a leisure trip onto a trip initiated by one’s job. For example, someone is attending a three-day conference and decides to stay through the weekend to explore the city. Another example is travelers bringing their partners or families along or staying an additional week and working remotely while there.

The motivation for bleisure travel is usually money and time. From the perspective of money, work is paying for airfare and some accommodations, so a person can visit a new place without paying for everything. From the perspective of time, many employees feel their corporate culture frowns on being gone for many days in a row. It’s easier to tack on a few vacation days to a work trip than take off for a week or more. Whatever the motivation, bleisure travel is overtaking traditional business travel. 

How does this trend impact interior design?

This trend definitely impacts how designers design for this market. Hotels want to be more than just a place to sleep. They want to be hubs for experiences. In order to attract bleisure travelers, they’ll need to have the functionality for a business traveler, but also have places to relax and unplug when someone isn’t working.

Some ways designers are addressing this challenge include changing the outdated idea of the business center and creating more of a coworking space. In the rooms themselves, guests are requesting rooms that are more conducive to video calls. They want rooms with Zoom-friendly lighting and desks positioned without the bed in the background. Acoustics is another major consideration that is important for both work and relaxation.

As for décor, designers draw on local history and culture to connect guests with a particular place. Using digital printing, designers customize elements as an effective way to incorporate the work of local designers and artists into materials. Local flavor is essential because, according to the BBC, “The modern bleisure traveler tends to be more culturally curious, not to mention interested in food.” They’re using this business trip as an opportunity to explore a new place, possibly one they would not otherwise have visited.  

Too often, when people think about designing for business travelers, they focus on technology. Yet, the same advances that helped us work anywhere during the pandemic have also made it difficult to disconnect from work. Designing for bleisure, instead of just business, means incorporating spaces where people can feel disconnected and relaxed when they want to be. When the business portion of the trip ends, and the leisure begins, people want to turn off from work and turn on the vacation vibe.