The hospitality landscape in 2026 isn't just different because of new technology or shinier lobbies but it’s fundamentally altered by a structural demand shift that has turned the traditional business trip upside down.
A bleisure traveller is someone who combines business and leisure travel in a single trip. You’ve likely heard the term "bleisure" for years now because it’s been a buzzword since it was first coined in 2009 by The Future Laboratory and yet we’re only now seeing its true impact on the bottom line.
Bleisure travel is a portmanteau of business and leisure, referring to the practice of combining business travel with leisure activities. We’re moving past the era where a bleisure traveller was just someone who stayed an extra Saturday night to see a museum because today it is a massive economic engine worth hundreds of billions of dollars. If you’re running a hotel and still treating these guests like standard corporate travelers then you’re likely leaving a significant amount of money on the table.
This article is intended for hotel owners and hospitality professionals seeking to understand and capitalize on the bleisure travel trend in 2026. We’ll explore the latest trends, operational impacts, and actionable strategies to help you attract, serve, and profit from the growing segment of bleisure travellers.
Introduction to Bleisure Travel
Bleisure travel is a portmanteau of business and leisure, referring to the practice of combining business travel with leisure activities. Bleisure travel—where business and leisure seamlessly intersect—has become a defining trend in the world of business travel.
This approach allows business travelers to extend their work trips, adding leisure time to explore new destinations, immerse themselves in local culture, and enjoy leisure activities beyond their work commitments. According to the Global Business Travel Association, more than 70% of business travelers now take at least one bleisure trip per year, underscoring just how mainstream this trend has become.
As the boundaries between work and personal life continue to blur, bleisure travel is reshaping the expectations of both travelers and employers. No longer are work trips just about back-to-back meetings; they’re about making the most of every destination, whether that means sightseeing after a client meeting or spending a weekend enjoying the city’s cultural attractions.
Corporate travel programs are evolving to accommodate this shift, recognizing that offering bleisure options is not just a perk but a necessity for attracting and retaining top talent. In 2026, bleisure is more than a buzzword—it’s a new way of experiencing business and leisure, and it’s transforming the way employees and companies approach travel.
Key Benefits and Challenges of Bleisure Travel
Bleisure travel offers a range of benefits and challenges for both travelers and hotels:
Benefits for Travelers:
- Bleisure travel enhances work-life balance for employees by allowing them to combine business trips with personal leisure time.
- Employees who engage in bleisure travel report higher job satisfaction and overall productivity.
- Bleisure travel can lead to reduced stress levels for employees, as they can enjoy leisure activities while traveling for work.
Challenges for Travelers:
- The flexibility of bleisure travel can blur the lines between work and leisure, making it difficult for employees to disconnect from work responsibilities.
- Bleisure travel can increase costs for employees due to higher accommodation and living expenses during extended stays.
Benefits for Hotels:
- Hotels can attract longer stays and higher spending guests by catering to bleisure travellers.
- The blending of business and leisure travel increases occupancy rates and stabilizes revenue streams.
Challenges for Hotels:
- The blending of business and leisure travel can create challenges for finance teams in managing expenses and compliance.
- Hotels must adapt operations and amenities to meet the diverse needs of bleisure guests, from reliable Wi-Fi to family-friendly perks.
The Massive Scale of the Blended Travel Market
When we look at the numbers, it becomes clear that we aren’t talking about a small group of hikers who happen to have a laptop.
- The global bleisure travel market was valued at roughly $315.3 billion in 2022 and is on a trajectory to reach a staggering $731.4 billion by 2032. That represents a compound annual growth rate of 8.9%, a pace that most traditional hospitality segments would dream of achieving.
- Some analysts are even more bullish, projecting the market could skyrocket to $3.5 trillion by 2033 as American business travelers alone take over 405 million long-haul business trips every year and add leisure time to about 60% of them.
- In fact, 55% of business travelers took at least two trips that blended business and leisure in 2024, highlighting a significant shift in travel behavior.
You’re seeing a world where 83% of business travelers have taken a bleisure trip in the past year and about 89% of travelers want to add some leisure time to their next business trips, according to a survey by the American Hotel & Lodging Association. This isn’t just a trend for the “road warriors” because it is a standard expectation for over 60% of workers under the age group of 40 as we move through 2026.
The terminology around these blended trips often includes references to 'vacation time,' as well as terms like 'bleisure' and 'bizcation,' reflecting the merging of business obligations with leisure or vacation components.
Why the Midweek Slump is Disappearing
One of the most exciting shifts for hotel owners is how bleisure travel is reshaping midweek occupancy and length of stay. In the old days, you’d see a massive spike on Tuesday and Wednesday followed by a ghost town on Sunday and Monday, but those lines are blurring fast.
- Research shows that bleisure trips typically last two to three days, but we’re seeing a rise in stays that stretch to four nights or longer.
- In Australia, for example, the average bleisure stay has stretched to six nights, which is almost double the global average of 3.5 nights.
When business and leisure travel are combined, the hotel gets to enjoy a much more stable revenue stream. You’re no longer just selling a room for a single client meeting because you’re selling an extended stay where the guest might bring family members along or invite their partner to join them for the leisure portion of the trip.
- About 35% of these travelers bring someone else with them.
- 57% specifically look for destinations that their family would enjoy.
This changes everything from how you forecast your room cleaning to how you staff your breakfast buffet because you’re now hosting families during the traditional business days.
The Operational Headache of the Bleisure Shift
While the revenue looks great on paper, it creates some real pain points for managers who are already struggling with staffing shortages. An American Hotel & Lodging Association study recently found that 76% of hotels are reporting staffing shortages, with 13% describing those shortages as severe. When you have bleisure travelers staying longer and expecting a "portable lifestyle," the pressure on your team increases significantly.
These guests aren't just looking for a bed—they need high-speed Wi-Fi, co-working spaces, a fitness center, and maybe even a kids' club for when they’re in a work commitments block. If your property management system and your channel manager aren't in sync, then you’re going to run into overbooking disasters and inaccurate real-time inventory data that can cost you thousands in guest compensation.
We’ve seen cases where big hotel chains had to pay out over $50,000 per property because their automated overbooking systems couldn't handle the unpredictability of extended work trips during peak times.
Food and Beverage as the New Revenue Hero
If there’s one area where the bleisure traveller is truly changing the game, it is in food and beverage demand. Unlike the standard corporate travelers who might just expense a quick sandwich and stay in their room to work, the modern blended traveler wants to spend time exploring the city and its cultural attractions through food. They’re treating these trips like mini vacations, and that means they’re willing to spend more on luxury dining and high-end cocktails.
In fact, bleisure travelers spend an average of $1,566 per trip, which is more than pure leisure travelers spend. Younger business travelers in particular, like Gen Z and Millennials, are five times more likely than older professionals to want to visit a new destination like Tokyo or Paris for the food and the lifestyle.
And about 73% of Gen Z travelers have reported spending their own personal travel money on high-end dining while away for work because they see the trip as a chance to "upgrade" their life.
Managing the Chaos in the Hotel Kitchen
For a hotel manager or a restaurant owner, this influx of high-spending guests is a double-edged sword. You’re seeing a resurgence in hotel F&B demand where hotel restaurants are becoming "safe spaces" for travelers who want quality without leaving the property. However, the challenge of finding employees and the escalating costs of consumables are making it harder than ever to stay profitable.
Food waste is a massive problem in the hospitality industry because around a third of the world's food is wasted every year. In a hotel kitchen that’s serving a mix of conference banquets and individual bleisure travelers, the waste can pile up fast if you don't have clear guidelines and smart tools for inventory.
Most restaurants lose between $40,000 and $100,000 in profits for every $1 million in sales because of preventable issues like overpouring, theft, and supplier errors. When you’re trying to encourage travelers to stay longer and spend time at your bar, you can't afford to have your margins eaten away by a lack of control.
The Corporate Travel Policy Evolution
As we move into the next decade, companies are finally realizing that they need to plan ahead and create a formal bleisure travel policy. It used to be a "don't ask, don't tell" situation where employees would just extend work trips on the down-low, but now 43% of companies have clearly defined rules for blended travel.
This shift is actually a huge win for employee retention because 73% of workers see bleisure as a major job perk and 91% of those who take these trips report a better work-life balance.
A good bleisure travel policy helps separate business and leisure expenses so that there’s no confusion when the bill comes. Usually, the company covers the work trips portion—like the flight and the business days at the hotel—while the employee covers the personal expenses for the leisure days.
Organizations that are allowing employees to bring family members or extend work trips for leisure purposes are seeing higher job satisfaction and more productive employees because people return from their trips feeling more refreshed than those who just did a "straight" business trip.
Designing the Bleisure Destination of 2026
If you’re looking to capture more bleisure trips, then you need to think about what these people actually need to be productive. It’s not just about a free breakfast anymore, although 90% of guests still want that. It’s about creating an environment where they can balance work and leisure activities without feeling like they’re trapped in a cubicle.
- Reliable Wi-Fi is Non-Negotiable: This is the most important amenity for 90% of remote work travelers because without it they can't attend that client meeting or stay on top of their work commitments.
- The Lobby as a Living Hub: Modern hotels are blurring the lines between the lobby and the bar to create spaces where people can work on their laptops during the day and then transition into leisure activities in the evening.
- Family-Friendly Perks: Since so many travelers are starting to bring family along, you need to offer things like kids' menus and larger suites or connecting rooms that don't feel like a standard corporate box.
- Wellness and Spas: Bleisure travelers are more likely to exercise and follow a healthy diet than regular business travelers, so having a great gym or offering wellness treatments is a massive draw.
Managing Bleisure Travel Expenses
As bleisure travel becomes a standard part of business travel, managing expenses effectively is more important than ever. Companies need to establish clear guidelines and rules that outline what qualifies as a business expense versus a personal expense, ensuring that both employees and finance teams are on the same page.
A well-crafted bleisure travel policy should specify which travel costs are covered by the company, how to handle leisure extensions, and what documentation is required for reimbursement.
To streamline the process, many organizations are turning to automated expense management systems that can track, categorize, and separate business and personal expenses with ease.
This not only reduces administrative headaches but also ensures compliance and transparency for both companies and employees. By planning ahead and setting clear rules, companies can minimize risks, control costs, and provide a seamless bleisure travel experience that benefits everyone involved.
As the trend continues to grow, having a robust bleisure travel policy is essential for staying competitive and supporting employees who want to balance work and leisure on their trips.
The Tech Stack That Makes It All Possible
You can't manage this level of complexity with a pen and paper. As the travel industry goes through a digital transformation, you need tools that help you manage your time zones, your stock levels, and your guest requests all at once. AI is starting to play a huge role here because it can help with everything from automated itinerary planning to voice-controlled room settings.
But let’s talk about the real problem that keeps hotel managers up at night and that is the "One Big Beautiful Bill" of inventory. When your bar is packed with bleisure travelers who are ordering high-end spirits, you need to know exactly how much you have on hand. If you’re still doing manual counts, then you’re wasting hours of your team’s time and you’re probably losing money to overpouring or "generous" freebies that aren't being tracked.
Why WISK is the Secret Weapon for Hotel F&B
This is exactly where WISK comes in to save the day for hotel restaurants and bars. We know that inventory is not the most glamorous part of your job but it is essential for your survival in the next decade. Most managers hate taking inventory because it takes forever and it’s usually inaccurate but WISK cuts that time down by 80% and lets you get back to actually running your business.
Imagine being able to take a full inventory of your bar 5 times faster with 99.7% accuracy. You don't have to guess how much money you’re losing down to the item level because WISK integrates with your POS to show you the difference between what you sold and what you actually used. For a hotel that’s trying to maximize the leisure component of a guest’s stay, having a profitable and well-stocked bar is the difference between a one-time visitor and a loyal frequent traveler.
Solving the Pain Points of the Modern Hotelier
We understand the struggle of trying to keep your food costs under control while also trying to deliver an exceptional guest experience. You’re dealing with:
- Shrinkage and Theft: Without clear rules and tracking, you’re losing a huge chunk of your profits to the "invisible" costs of the bar and kitchen.
- Inaccurate Pricing: If you don't know exactly what your ingredients cost, then you’re probably underpricing your menu and leaving money on the table.
- Staff Burnout: Your team is already stretched thin because of the staffing trend, so the last thing they want to do is spend four hours in a cold room counting bottles.
- Overstocking and Spoilage: If you aren't forecasting based on real-time demand, then you’re going to end up with a basement full of expensive wine that nobody is drinking.
WISK helps you reclaim at least 21% of lost profits from things like food waste and overpouring. It automates your invoicing so you can say goodbye to manual data entry and it gives you real-time stock alerts so you never have to tell a guest that you’re out of their favorite drink during their mini vacations.
Conclusion: Don't Let the Bleisure Boom Pass You By
The world of business travel is never going back to the way it was in 2019. We are entering a new era where people want to explore, spend time with family, and maintain a healthy well-being all while they are on work trips. The cities that become the top bleisure destinations—like New York, London, and Tokyo—are the ones where the hotels have figured out how to cater to both sides of the traveler’s brain.
You have a choice to make. You can keep treating every business traveller like they’re just there for a client meeting or you can start creating bleisure options that encourage travelers to stay longer and spend more. By adopting a modern bleisure travel policy and using tools like WISK to tighten up your operations, you can turn your hotel into a powerhouse of the next decade.
Are you ready to stop chasing receipts and start growing your margins? It’s time to see how data-driven inventory can transform your hotel’s F&B performance.
CLICK HERE and see how we can help you cut your inventory time by 80% and boost your profit margins while you focus on giving your guests the best bleisure experience possible.
