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How hotels can tap into the bleisure market
It’s important to remember that just because a guest is staying with you on business, it doesn’t mean they aren’t looking to relax and enjoy themselves during their down time.
Whether guests are travelling in a large corporate group or individually, the requirement for the comfort and convenience is at the crux of the stay. We look to create a better than home-away-from-home to provide a stress-free environment so guests can focus solely on their event or meeting.
Contrary to belief, business travellers do often find themselves with spare time on their hands. Even if you’re staying in a five-star hotel, being sat in a hotel room by yourself is no fun, so we like to encourage our guests to explore the local area. We’re blessed with our location; we have Kensington Gardens next door and an urban village vibe, which makes us a popular choice with those who need to be in town for business, but want to be away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
Wherever your hotel is located, however, you can offer more to business guests than the essentials needed to do their job. Here are my top three tips to catering for the bleisure guest:
- Incentivise a prolonged stay. Business travellers will advantage of preferential rates if they hesitating over whether to extend their stay or not. This might not always be feasible, but can work well during quieter periods.
- Accommodate the family. More than half of business travellers are choosing to extend their business stay and invite their family along to join them. Therefore, while the corporate guest is attending their event or meeting, it’s important that the hotel also accommodates the family’s needs. Our guest relations team has a number of local activities up their sleeve for keeping young children entertained. For example, they can arrange for a free microscooter for children to take to the park. We also arrange day activities such as tours or personal shopping experiences for the partners of bleisure travellers. For more about how five star hotels can better cater for the family market click here.
- Exercise your local knowledge. Whether it’s recommending a suitable restaurant for a business meeting or providing the departure times of the local tour bus, bleisure travellers appreciate having arrangements made for them, especially if they have been focused on their work all day. If meetings and conferences are taking place within the hotel, ensure the guest relations teams work closely with your concierge to understand the schedules of bleisure guests and make suggestions tailored around their timetable. The three most popular bleisure activities are sightseeing, dining and arts and culture.
