The idea of a hybrid work-vacation trip – “bleisure” in travel industry parlance -- was totally upended during the pandemic. With business travel on hold, many people began staying at business-oriented hotels for vacation trips. And many people began bringing work with them to resorts. Then when corporate travel did begin to return, it did so with a bleisure component – in some cases spouses and kids came along for long weekends or joined up for an extended vacation. And people on work-from-home or hybrid work plans became accustomed to traveling anywhere and adding in a few hours of work time.

Today we’re going to talk about how these trends literally are changing the footprint of hotels and their amenities: From business suites at Caribbean resorts to leisure-focused amenity packages at big-city hotels.

Co-hosted by Christina Jelski, Travel Weekly’s senior editor covering hospitality. www.travelweekly.com/christina-jelski

Guests:

Travis Jay Wilson, marketing director of the Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/sandt-marriott-marquis-san-diego-marina/overview/

Janien Huistra, director of sales and marketing for the Renaissance Aruba https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/auabr-renaissance-wind-creek-aruba-resort/overview/

Anne Stingle, head of sales, marketing and brand communications for Rebel Hotel Company. https://www.rebelhotelcompany.com/portfolio

This episode was edited for length and clarity. 

Related articles:

Google data highlights the growing interest in blended trips https://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Travel-Technology/Google-data-shows-interest-blended-trips

Working on vacation: Bleisure's flipside https://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Hotel-News/The-flipside-of-bleisure-working-during-vacation

Business hotels make room for leisure: https://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Hotel-News/Making-room-for-leisure