What flexible business travel means 

Flexible business travel, a dream for road warriors and a way to make business travel more pleasant for those who hit the road frequently. It can mean allowing travelers to travel and work remotely, and making travel policy changes, like making bleisure a part of your policy. Sounds simple? 

With a wealth of possibilities, all aimed at promoting traveler satisfaction and boosting productivity, we’ll dive into what flexible business travel actually means, so that you can adapt your travel program to make happier travelers.

What is flexible business travel?

Flexible business travel is a modern approach to corporate travel that seeks to promote traveler wellbeing and adaptability in how, when and where they travel for work. The idea is to allow for flexible itineraries, integrate with remote or hybrid work models, and to work with travel policies that support personal preferences, wellbeing and a healthy work-life balance, which often includes the possibility to add on bleisure portion of your trip. 

Core elements of flexible business travel

Let’s take a look at some of the key elements of flexibility as it relates to business travel, which include: 

• Customizable itineraries
• Remote work integration
• Embracing bleisure
• Flexible travel policy changes
• Working with an all-in-one T&E platform 
• Focusing on wellbeing and sustainability

Customizable itineraries

Employees are happiest when they’re in the driver seat, which is why it’s so important to have customizable and flexible itineraries. This means that employees can choose when is the best time to travel for meetings, including custom travel dates, routes, and being able to choose the transportation method most suited to their schedules or preferences. 

If you work with an all-in-one travel and expense management tool like GetGoing, you can easily customize your itineraries and make booking and managing corporate travel a piece of cake.

Remote work integration

Travel plans in flexible corporate travel can easily work around remote or hybrid work setups allowing professionals to work from anywhere, before, during or after a trip. Whether your remote workers must travel for work, or they take their work on the road, making sure you have the flexibility written into your travel policy is key to protect your travelers and to keep in control. 

Embrace bleisure

Combining business with leisure, or in other words, bleisure, is not only supported with flexible business travel, it’s also encouraged. Adding on a few extra days for personal time is a great way to disconnect and recharge after a business trip. Most of the time, when traveling for work, you won’t have the time to explore the sights, and by embracing bleisure, you get the best of both worlds: traveling for business and for pleasure. 

Wellbeing and sustainability focus

Another important element of flexibility is having traveler comfort in mind. The more flexible the travel policy, the more comfortable it is for the traveler. This means that mental health is considered (especially for regular travelers, ensuring they have some days off between business trips and having to go back to work). Offering eco-conscious options like prioritizing trains over flights when possible can also do a lot to promote traveler wellbeing, saving on travel time and the hassle of going through security checks. 

Flexible travel policy changes

Your travel policy is like your travel bible. This means if you decide to have a flexible travel program, your policy should reflect the same flexibility. Things like last-minute changes, personal preferences, bleisure or other travel needs that may have traveler wellbeing in mind are key to integrate into your policy. If you work with a T&E platform you can easily automate your travel policy to ensure the level of control and flexibility that best suits your travel program. 

Having an all-in-one T&E platform

Using platforms that allow travelers to book, modify and manage trips easily and independently is an important part of being able to provide flexibility. Working with an all-in-one travel management platform like GetGoing can make flexible travel arrangements and approvals as easy as the click of a button. Automate your travel policy, let travelers easily book from the platform, approve and repeat.