How Remote Working Is Resulting In More Holidays Being Booked
Until recently, remote working was something that relatively few people were able to do.
According to the NCCI and The American Community Survey, in 2019, only 6% of Americans spent any time working from home. Today, over 50% of them work remotely regularly, at least once a week and the numbers are increasing.
The change happened during the CoVid pandemic. Lockdowns meant that employers had no choice but to offer their workers the chance to work from home. It was either that or going out of business.
Having done it out of necessity during the pandemic, many of them realized that home working was viable. Far more so than they had anticipated.
Many discovered that it had many advantages. Their employees liked it. Plus, having people work at home reduced their power bills and meant that they could move to smaller and cheaper premises.
It was a rare win-win, which is why so many companies have decided to continue to work this way.
The Surprising Impact Of Remote Working On The Travel Industry
This change in working practices is having quite an impact on society and family life. Most surprisingly of all is the way it is changing how and when people travel.
Everyone Has The Travel Bug
The first thing to note is that people are taking more holidays or breaks than they did pre-pandemic. To a certain extent, this is understandable. After years of not being able to travel at all, people are very keen to do so.
They relish the opportunity to enjoy holidays and new experiences once again. In addition, many people are taking a few days out to travel and catch up with family members that live a fair distance away. Often, they have not been able to see them for several years.
Remote Workers Are Traveling More Frequently
This is all understandable and to a large extent what the travel industry predicted would happen. But what many pundits missed was the fact that leisure travel, the act of combining business with leisure travel, would mushroom. Nor did they realize that remote or hybrid workers would have the chance to travel more and would take full advantage of it.
People assumed that employers would not be comfortable with employees working out of a hotel room rather than at home where the internet connection was more stable. In reality, they are quite relaxed about it. So, workers have upped sticks and booked working holidays for themselves and their families.
According to Deloitte´s 2022 Travel Industry Outlook study, remote workers are a demographic that plans to and are traveling more than others. You can read the full study here, but basically, it shows that disconnectors (ordinary leisure travelers) were planning to take 1 to 2 trips in 2022. While laptop luggers (remote or hybrid workers) were going to book 2 to 4 trips during 2022.
Hybrid Workers Are No Longer Just Taking 2-Week Breaks
The length of the trips people book is changing too. This excellent article details how and why in considerable detail.
In short, the analysis provided by large companies like Booking.com and Airbnb shows that people are booking very long holidays and do so more often. These breaks are too long for travelers to be using their annual leave allowance to take them, which indicates that a significant percentage of guests are working while traveling.
Access To Superfast Broadband Becomes A Priority For Travellers
At the same time, searches for the best hotels for working while traveling has soared. Companies, like Broadband Genie in the UK, who have crunched the numbers and provided a list of the hotels that offer the most dependable connections have enjoyed an uptick in visitors to their websites.
Hybrid workers are using these lists to quickly narrow down their options to the hotel chains that are most likely to cater to their needs.
Where To Find Out More
If you are currently working 100% remotely or doing so in a hybrid way, it is well worth your while booking yourself some extra trips away.
Currently, employers are fairly relaxed about their employees working out of holiday accommodation. But you can never be sure when this attitude will change. It would only take a few of your colleagues to let your boss down by delivering work late while traveling for them to take a different approach.
So, it makes sense, to take advantage of the situation while you still can. If you would like to learn more about how to work efficiently while traveling, just click this link.
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