For many of us, two-day weekends just aren’t cutting it anymore, and it’s giving the economy a jolt. Emboldened by remote work and flexible schedules, professionals are heading out on more trips, “stretching their weekends beyond the usual Friday night to Sunday night span,” Axios writes. They’re starting and ending trips by working from airport lounges and hotels — and shelling out more for airfare, accommodations, meals and related expenses. That’s boosting consumer spending on services and helping drive unexpected growth in the GDP.
- The shifting weekend also underscores the rise of “bleisure travel,” or trips that mix work and pleasure. Southwest said this week that it would rework its flight schedule to better accommodate a shift away from traditional business travel.
By Saundra Latham, Editor at LinkedIn News
The meaning of “the weekend” has changed and it’s boosting the economy
Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend … has fundamentally changed.
The big picture: Thanks to the rise of remote work, more professionals are stretching their weekends beyond the usual Friday night to Sunday night span, they’re taking more trips, and spending more on experiences.
- It amounts to a major structural change to the consumer side of the U.S. economy, which continues to drive a surprisingly resilient expansion.
- “Fridays and Mondays are no longer huge constraints to what you’re going to do on the weekend,” said Thomas LaSalvia, head of commercial real estate economics at Moody’s Analytics. “So it really broadens your ability to do quite a bit more from afar than you ever have.”
Driving the news: The GDP numbers out Thursday showed off an economy that’s still growing, driven by consumers who are still spending — particularly on services (i.e., experiences rather than stuff).
How it works: Those who can work remotely have more time to travel; they can work from hotel rooms, or on planes and in airport lounges.
- Because you’re not tied to a desk, you don’t have to wait till 5pm to race out the door and get in the car to make it to your weekend destination.
- And you don’t have to scramble to get back Sunday night and show up at the office the next day.
Zoom out: At first, this all seemed like part of last year’s “revenge spending” phenomenon, where formerly cooped-up Americans splurged on trips.
- But the trend stuck around because of this new workplace flexibility, LaSalvia said. Effectively, the time costs of doing things over a weekend have diminished considerably for those who don’t have to commute.
- LaSalvia noticed the change when looking at data on hotel room revenue — in cities where Taylor Swift comes to town, hotels make more money. But this goes far beyond Swifties.
- Last year alone, he went to 10 weddings (including his own), plus he managed week-long stays at family lake houses in the summer — and a honeymoon to Greece. This year, the pace continues (one wedding down, with three more on deck and three out-of-town bachelor parties).
- He’s managed to pull this all off and not take too many days off, he said. Before remote work, “I just couldn’t have done it all.”
The bottom line: When your boss tries to get you back into the office, share this story with her and explain you’re simply doing your part to keep the economy growing.
BY: Emily Peck, author of Axios Markets
The Rise of Bleisure Travel
The post-COVID travel landscape has changed dramatically with expectations of a permanent shift toward hybrid work arrangements and declining business travel. This has enabled an emerging trend of blending business and leisure travel, creating a new segment of “bleisure” travelers. Bleisure is expected to continue growing, with consumers indicating a roughly 30% increase in blended travel lengths going forward. Hotel companies must therefore develop or reconfigure offerings that better cater to the growing demand for flexible work environments and create more opportunities for seamless integration of work and leisure.
L.E.K. Consulting’s research and analysis has identified four key strategic initiatives that will help capitalize on the potential of this bleisure travel trend:
- Customer acquisition and engagement strategy: The rise of bleisure travel creates a need for hospitality companies to better understand new consumer preferences and expectations. Based on our recent surveys, bleisure travelers are 30% more likely to be millennial, be single and live in an urban setting compared to the average traveler. Capturing this segment requires a better understanding of their specific needs and preferences, which can be used to craft targeted marketing campaigns and effectively engage them with a compelling value proposition.
- Pricing and promotion strategy: A revised approach to pricing strategy is required to tailor product packages that appeal to this new segment. Likewise, hotels should adjust their promotional strategies, emphasizing specific brand features that appeal to both business and leisure needs. Taking a holistic view of the customer and catering a relevant product portfolio can also help improve customer acquisition and retention.
- Linked corporate and loyalty strategy: Hotel rewards programs have traditionally catered to business travel patterns, specifically road warrior, but may need to be reevaluated to better accommodate and target these new blended behaviors. Overall, 68% of bleisure travelers are interested in company-sponsored remote workspaces; combining these with points accrual and elite qualification systems could provide a powerful accelerant to attracting this new segment.
- Product evolution: Bleisure has created a need to evolve product offerings such as agile workspaces and rooms designed to support hybrid work. Approximately 72% of bleisure travelers seek hotel options with dedicated workstations with high standards of connectivity that can support video conferencing and ensure uninterrupted work-related activities. This creates an opportunity for hotels to reassess their physical spaces and digital capabilities to accommodate the dynamic and diverse needs of bleisure professionals.
As a large portion of hybrid work arrangements is expected to sustain going forward, hotel companies are presented with an opportunity to evolve aspects of their models and capture a new guest segment. Winners will be hotels that create new, or more tailored, product offerings and provide the services that put the bleisure traveler’s needs at the center.
Source: LEK
