Bleisure Travel Tips: How to Combine Business and Leisure Like a Pro

April 16, 2026

The Rise of Bleisure Travel

Over the last decade or two, bleisure travel has become not only a big business but a truly amazing experience for many around the world. Bleisure (business + leisure) travel turns a work trip into a fun personal vacation and helps individuals see the world in exciting new ways. According to Expedia Group, around 42% of consumers planned bleisure trips in 2025.

Many factors influence the 13% increase from 2023’s 29%. For example, the rise of remote and hybrid work makes it easier for people to work wherever they want. Furthermore, the lifting of travel restrictions after the COVID-19 pandemic made work travel more precious. People were desperate to get out of their homes, and business travel made it easier than ever.

If you’re interested in a bleisure vacation or need to plan one soon, The Parking Spot can help you! We’ll make booking your flight easier by offering high-quality parking during your trip. Furthermore, we offer business travel tips that ensure a smoother vacation. Read on to learn more about bleisure travel and how it could positively transform your work life.

Why Bleisure Makes Sense

If you’re asking yourself, “What kind of benefits does bleisure have over traditional work travel or personal vacations?” Well, just imagine planning a business trip to a major city and ending your travel by visiting the Super Bowl!

Turning what might ostensibly be a dull experience into an exciting one makes bleisure vacations one of the best business travel tips possible! Many regular business travelers end up loving bleisure so much that they turn each trip into a little mini-vacation. Even better, bleisure offers a myriad of other benefits that make it worth considering. These include:

Improved Work-Life Balance: Work trips can feel very time-consuming and challenging for many people. Turning it into bleisure travel can improve your work-life balance by letting you relax a little and enjoy yourself during your trip.
Bolster Productivity: When traveling on business, it’s easy to get distracted or feel depressed by the burden of your job. However, creating a bleisure trip can not only give you something to look forward to on your journey but also bolster your productivity by making your trip fun.
Maximize Trip Value: If your employer is paying for your trip, why not maximize its value (and reduce your vacation expenses) by taking advantage of it while you can? This bleisure travel works particularly well if you plan a health and wellness retreat during your work travel.
Reduces Burnout: Around 66% of all workers in America experience severe burnout because they don’t take vacations. By combining a business trip with a fun vacation idea (such as hitting up March Madness), you can reduce your stress and improve your quality of life.

Planning a Successful Bleisure Trip

Your bleisure travel shouldn’t be stressful or difficult. However, many people don’t treat it seriously enough or ignore important business travel tips to “wing” it while on their trip. Use the following suggestions to truly enjoy yourself:

Pack Smartly: Make sure you pack wisely and bring both business and leisure gear for your bleisure travel. For example, you might need suits for your work meetings and swimming gear for your after-work dips in the pool! The best packing tips make this process easier.
Choose Great Destinations: Pick destinations that offer real cultural or recreational opportunities. For example, work travel spots like Singapore (a huge Asian business hub) offer islands, beaches, gardens, and museums that you’re bound to love during your trip.
Add Leisure Time or Days: Book leisure time during your trip whenever you can. Have three hours between business meetings? Visit a museum or a cool eatery. Have a few days on your trip after your work is over? Don’t just fly home: book a spa package, enjoy a shopping excursion, explore a nearby small town - there are many options if you do some research of your destination.
Coordinate With Employer on Expenses: Before you book a single ticket, talk with your employer about expense comping, including your travel insurance. Know what they’ll cover and what they want to budget your bleisure trip and work travel more successfully.

Tips for Booking Wisely

Before you start booking your bleisure travel, make sure you follow these simple tips. They make it not only easier to find great hotels and flights, but they can also save you money. Furthermore, they'll make work travel during your vacation much simpler and minimize any frustration. You should:

Download various apps that make finding flights and hotels easier
Pay close attention to flight delays and cancellations to potentially save money on booking
Avoid parking directly at airports, as they tend to be pricey (especially for longer trips)
Sign up for hotel “points” systems to save up money and even get free stays
Pay close attention to an area’s parking and tipping etiquette to avoid issues
Find ride-share apps that help make your travel on your trip much easier
Understand the public transportation system of your destination, including buses, taxis, and subway trains
Buy travel gadgets that make long-term bleisure travel a bit easier to handle, such as noise-cancelling headphones or a travel-sized massage gun
Use The Parking Spot’s easy app for flexible booking at one of our 70+ locations

Maximizing Your Time Off

Plan your bleisure travel vacation around fun activities like dining, local sightseeing, and outdoor exploration. Just about every city and country has some kind of amazing cuisine to enjoy, museums to visit, and beautiful gardens to explore. Many of these activities are even free or low-cost, which makes them a fantastic choice! But when should you do them?

That all depends on your trip. Your bleisure travel might only have a few hours at the end of every day to enjoy yourself. Or you might have a weekend to explore before heading home. Some might even get a few days off suddenly during the week! Plan your trip based on your time availability to ensure that you have the bleisure vacation that makes the most sense.

Balancing Work Obligations and Downtime

Many people struggle to keep their work travel vacations from becoming 100% business. Thankfully, we can offer a few business travel tips to keep in mind for balancing your needs:

Create Clear Work Hours: Know when you have to work during your trip and set specific hours for it. Quit when you’re done (don’t burn the midnight oil!) and treat your leisure with respect. Obviously, finish what you need to do with your job, but don’t do unnecessary overtime.
Find Co-Working Cafes: Is it tough for you to stay focused while on vacation? Co-working cafes and workspaces can connect you with other travelers and make this experience easier. You can also use Wi-Fi apps, including your hotspot, to stay connected online at all times.
Improve Work Efficiency: A business trip isn’t always the most efficient for many travelers. However, you can use video conferencing, project management apps, cloud storage, and priority tracking and management to stay efficient and get work done on time.
Make a Daily Agenda: Use calendar apps to create a specific agenda for each day. You want to avoid overcommitting, i.e., trying to plan too much for each day. A clear and reasonable agenda helps you get your work done and enjoy yourself when you’re finished.
Use Your Short Breaks: Do you have a few hours between meetings? Don’t just sit in your hotel room waiting; get out there and explore the city! Sure, you might not get to explore every nook and cranny of the local art museum, but carefully planning these little excursions offers a little excitement to your trip.
Tap Into Tech Tools: If you have a hard time quitting work at the end of the day, install apps that automatically block your internet or email usage after a certain time. Relaxation apps can also make this process a little easier by encouraging a calmer attitude and mindfulness.

The Future of Business Travel

By now, one point should be clear: bleisure travel isn’t just a fad. In fact, it might just be the new normal for work travel and vacations! Busy and successful people are often incredibly efficient, after all, and combining business with pleasure is an easy choice for anyone.

So, when you’re booking your next business flight and want to find a way to counteract long flight layovers and security nightmares, plan your bleisure travel. Booking your destinations ahead of time (and clearing the leisure portion with your employer) will make everything better.

Just as importantly, you should consider joining programs like Known Traveler, NEXUS, and PreCheck to make global travel even easier. Finally, consider downloading mobile passport apps, REAL ID programs, and digital ID software to avoid travel paperwork headaches.

And don’t forget to join The Parking Spot Business Program, join the Spot Club, and download our app to make your work travel reservations even better. We’re constantly offering business travel tips, coupons and deals, and much more to satisfy our many busy customers.

Frequently Asked Questions about Bleisure (FAQ)

Q: What is bleisure travel?

A: Bleisure travel combines business and leisure trips to streamline your vacation. For example, you might travel to Florida from Michigan for a week, work from your condo, and take the next week off to combine these experiences.

Q: How can I turn a business trip into a bleisure trip?

A: If you work from home, you can technically turn any week or two into a bleisure trip! However, you can also transform a general business trip into a vacation by booking events after your work days, taking half-days during your trip when possible, and taking a week off after you’re done.

Q: Are bleisure expenses tax-deductible?

A: You can deduct some of your bleisure travel expenses, but only those directly related to your business expenses. For example, your hotel stay can be deducted only during those days you’re directly on business. Similarly, meals and food count only if used directly for business.

Q: Can you take your family on a bleisure trip?

A: If your employer allows it, you should be able to take your family on a trip. Whether you should or not is a different question. After all, they are going to be sitting in a hotel while you work and might be bored or distracted. If you let them do their own thing, it might be useful.

Q: Will my employer cover my family during a bleisure trip?

A: You might have a very nice employer who will cover your family’s expenses during your bleisure trip. Most of the time, companies will cover your expenses but leave your family out of it. You’ll need to plan for that when booking your bleisure travel.

Q: How does The Parking Spot help with business and leisure travel?

A: The Parking Spot offers business benefits, such as corporate accounts that include managed travel programs, detailed reports, and expense tracking tools. We also offer discounted monthly and long-term parking that you can bill directly to your company.