Latest bleisure travel trends shaping corporate travel in 2025 Insight for teams who manage budgets, travellers and policies A work trip isn’t always a quick flight, a meeting and straight back home anymore. More employees are adding a weekend in Lisbon after a client visit, inviting family to join them in Paris, or working remotely from the hotel for an extra day before flying back. This blend of business and leisure — bleisure travel — has gone from occasional requests to a recognised part of corporate travel. And the numbers back it up. The global bleisure market was valued at $430 billion, and Statista predicts it could grow by 500% by 2033. In the UK alone, 42% of travellers extended a business trip for leisure in the past year. Travel managers are seeing more extended stays, finance teams are fielding questions about expense limits, and HR is having to think beyond flights and hotels to traveller wellbeing and fatigue. Employees aren’t asking for luxury holidays on company time. They’re trying to make better use of time already spent travelling — especially when the average business traveller is away from home 22 days a year. For employers, this shift raises questions: Who covers the extra hotel night? Are they still covered under company insurance? What happens if something goes wrong during the leisure part of the trip? The smart companies aren’t ignoring it. They’re building travel plans and policies that allow flexibility, protect budgets and make expectations clear for everyone involved. In this blog, we’ll explore the biggest bleisure travel trends right now, how they’re reshaping corporate travel, and how you can plan for them before the New Year rings in. What is travel and expense data analytics? Bleisure travel is simple on paper: an employee takes a business trip and adds leisure time before, during or after it. But in practice, it comes in different forms, and the way you plan for it affects budgets and traveller satisfaction. Some common examples you’re likely already seeing in your organisation: An employee attends a conference in Berlin and stays two extra nights to explore the city (paid personally, but within the same hotel booking). A project team finishes work in Madrid on a Friday and works remotely from the hotel on Monday before flying home. A senior manager flies to Toronto for meetings and brings their partner along, paying for additional flight and meals themselves. A contractor works on-site abroad for weeks at a time and uses weekends to visit nearby cities instead of flying home. It’s not a new idea — but the frequency and acceptance have changed. In a recent U.S. survey, 84% of employees said they want to include personal time on their next work trip, and nearly half (48%) already did so in the last year. Travel managers are noticing it too, with 41% reporting an increase in employees asking to extend their stays for leisure. So why does it matter for corporate travel policy? Because once a work trip shifts into personal time, several things change: Budgets — who pays for what? Insurance and duty of care — is the traveller still covered? Tax and compliance — could it be considered a taxable benefit? Approvals and tracking — how do you record the shift from business to leisure? This is where many policies fall short. They allow bleisure informally, but don’t outline the guardrails. And when that happens, finance is unsure what to reimburse, HR worries about liability and travel managers are left making one-off decisions. Understanding what counts as bleisure (and where business ends) is the first step in building travel plans that support employees without creating confusion or risk. Why bleisure travel is on the rise Bleisure travel isn’t a phase that will fade out. It’s a response to how work, wellbeing and business travel have changed — and the rise is visible across industries, continents and age groups. The data makes it hard to ignore. Over the past year, several things have accelerated its rise. 1. Travellers want more value from time spent away from home Business trips can be tiring. There’s long flights, unfamiliar cities, and time away from family. So it’s no surprise that travellers are turning work trips into something more worthwhile. In one survey, 84% of U.S. travellers said they want to add personal time to their next work trip, and 48% already have in the past year. In the UK, 42% of business travellers extended their stay for leisure in 2023. 2. Companies are travelling more — but want happier, more productive travellers Corporate travel is back and growing fast. 62% of CEOs increased their travel budgets in 2024, and business travellers now spend an average of 22 days a year on the road. Longer trips, rising workloads and focus on retention make traveller wellbeing a bigger priority — and bleisure offers a low-cost way to support it. Looking for comfortable accommodation and simple expense management tailored specifically for the mobile workforce? Discover how Roomex can streamline your travel needs, offering hassle-free booking and expense solutions designed to keep your team focused on the job. Try Roomex today and experience the difference in efficiency and convenience for your mobile workforce. Request a Demo 3. It can actually save money An extra Saturday stay can make flights cheaper due to airline pricing rules. In many cases, a traveller extends a trip, pays for their own accommodation, and still costs the company less on flights. For finance teams, this isn’t just a perk — it can be a budget benefit when managed correctly. 4. Remote work has changed everything Work is no longer tied to the office. Employees can answer emails from a hotel lobby or join meetings from another country. That flexibility blurs the lines between work and leisure — naturally leading to longer stays and more blended trips. 5. The market is growing faster than expected The global bleisure travel market was worth $430 billion in 2024 and..

How travel and expense data analytics can guide your corporate travel policy A practical guide for teams who manage budgets, policies and people on the move Business travel used to be straightforward: book a flight, file an expense, move on. Now it’s one of the most closely watched parts of company spending. Finance teams want accuracy and control. HR needs visibility and reassurance that travellers are safe. Travel managers are stuck in the middle, trying to balance cost, comfort and compliance without adding more admin to the process. And yet, most teams are still working blind — spread across inboxes, spreadsheets and half-complete expense data. This is where travel and expense data analytics makes a huge difference. It gives you a clear picture of what’s actually happening: which routes drain the budget, where policy is ignored, how often trips are extended, and where travellers might be stretched too thin. You don’t need to wait for month-end reports or rely on assumptions. You can see trends as they form and make decisions based on evidence, not instinct. It’s not about tracking every sandwich or train ticket. It’s about having enough clarity to make travel policies that feel fair, protect people on the road and stand up to budget scrutiny. What is travel and expense data analytics? Travel and expense data analytics is simply the process of collecting, tracking and analysing all the data connected to business travel — flights, hotels, mileage, expenses, policy compliance, approvals and even duty of care. It brings this information together in one place so finance, HR and travel teams don’t have to work from guesswork or stitched-together spreadsheets. That data comes from places you’re already using, like: Hotel and flight bookings Corporate cards and travel allowances Expense reports and receipts Traveller itineraries and check-in data Policy approvals and exceptions Real-time traveller locations and risk alerts When you connect these sources, you’re no longer seeing what was spent. You start seeing why it was spent, and where you can make better decisions next time. Why it matters now Business travel has come back, but expectations have changed: Then Now Expense reports submitted after the trip Real-time spend visibility “That’s just what travel costs” Data-backed budget planning One-size-fits-all travel policies Policies built from actual employee behaviour No idea where staff are during travel Live duty of care tracking Manual reconciliation at month-end Automated analytics dashboards Companies no longer just want to know how much they spent on travel last month. They want to know: Which departments go over budget the most When travellers are booking outside policy and why Which suppliers offer the best value — not just the cheapest rate How often delays or long journeys affect productivity Where employees are travelling in real time for safety and insurance purposes That insight is what separates organisations that react to travel spend, from those who plan for it. How travel and expense data analytics improves your travel policy Most travel policies are written with good intentions — protect the budget, keep travellers safe, avoid unnecessary upgrades. The problem? They’re often based on assumptions, historic habits or outdated data. Travel and expense data analytics gives you the evidence to build policies that actually work in practice. 1. Budget control without blind spots Data highlights where money is being spent, and where it’s being wasted. You can see: Which teams or departments consistently exceed travel budgets How much last-minute bookings add to travel costs The difference between negotiated hotel/flight rates and what was actually booked Spend per project, region or client — not just per trip This allows finance teams to adjust policies based on real behaviour. For example: If 70% of flights are booked within seven days of travel, setting a 14-day advance purchase rule without support tools won’t work, and data proves it. Looking for comfortable accommodation and simple expense management tailored specifically for the mobile workforce? Discover how Roomex can streamline your travel needs, offering hassle-free booking and expense solutions designed to keep your team focused on the job. Try Roomex today and experience the difference in efficiency and convenience for your mobile workforce. Request a Demo 2. Policy compliance you can actually enforce A policy only works if people follow it. Data shows where, how and why employees go off-policy. Common triggers include: Hotels not available at the agreed rate Flights with poor timings resulting in loss of working hours Travellers choosing loyalty points over cost-saving options With analytics, you can spot this early — and fix the reason, not just the symptom. Some organisations use this insight to build ‘flex zones’ in their policy, which allow reasonable exceptions when travellers can justify them. 3. Better duty of care decisions Duty of care isn’t only relating to an employees emergency contact. It’s knowing where your travellers are, how long they’ve been on the road and whether fatigue is impacting performance. With travel and expense data analytics, HR and travel teams can: Track employees in real-time using itinerary and booking data Flag high-risk destinations before a trip is approved Identify travellers who are flying too frequently or working back-to-back trips Prepare insurance or risk assessments ahead of time 4. Smarter supplier negotiations Travel policies often recommend specific airlines or hotels — but are they still giving you value? Data tells you: Which hotel chains are most frequently booked Average rate vs negotiated rate Where cancellations or service issues happen most often Which suppliers deliver the highest traveller satisfaction scores This puts you in a stronger position when renegotiating contracts, especially when backed with numbers instead of estimates. What data should you actually track? (Smart metrics for finance, HR and travel teams) It’s tempting to collect everything — flight bookings, hotel rates, taxi receipts, mileage, meal costs — then hope you’ll spot patterns later. But without focus, you’ll drown in data and struggle to turn it into action. With travel and expense data analytics, the key is choosing the metrics that tell the real story. According to..