More than eight in 10 Gen Zers view business trips as an opportunity to ‘upgrade’ their lifestyle.
A poll of 2,000 business travellers, found 26% will often seek out cool entertainment and content creation opportunities when they’re away for work. For Gen Z, this is an opportunity to ‘upgrade’ their lifestyle by staying in nice hotels and enjoying more expensive dinners. When they do, 36% will post on social media more often than usual to share these work perks, sharing three photos a day per trip with their online pals.
However, while one-third of Gen Zers will expense their dinners, nearly three-quarters pay from their own pocket to upgrade their meals or hotel rooms, compared to just 27% of their older colleagues.
The study was commissioned by Hotels.com, in line with the launch of ‘Save Your Way’, a scheme that allows members to choose between saving upfront with their member discount, or banking it as rewards to use later.
Melanie Fish, a spokesperson for the brand, said “Travelling for business doesn’t have to be all work and it shows the younger generation are fully embracing this.
“Not only are Gen Z and Millennials the most likely to extend their trip for leisure, they’re also the most resourceful, with 39% saying they maximise their rewards from business travel on personal trips.
“We also found that 97% of the younger generation have hacks they use to make their work travel much more fun.”
The research also discovered that young Brits enhance their business travel by extending their trips with a few ‘personal days’ to make the most of them, or save up their daily food allowance for one fancy dinner.
Additionally, over a third of young workers surveyed are more likely to splurge on a taxi or private car rather than use public transport.
Four out of ten people admitted they would love to bring a friend or family member along on their travels, to share in the excitement of new experiences.
Interestingly, all age groups agreed on one thing – New York was the dream work trip destination, according to figures from OnePoll.com..
Melanie added: “For Gen Z, business trips are a chance to advance their careers – while also meeting new people and exploring new places.
“While this new research shows differences in what workers of different ages want, we want to enable every generation’s priorities by offering flexibility in how they use their member discounts”.