To show my age, I remember Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez and the insane media circus around their relationship.  The combining of names began and they were no longer Ben & Jennifer they morphed into “Bennifer” to make it somehow easier than saying or typing their whole names?  Really? At the time, it seemed cute and then it stopped being cute.  All of sudden many words started to combine, to make, in my opinion, dumb shortened names.  The media hyped it, the masses accepted it and it then becomes a new word in the dictionary.  This makes me cranky to see things shortened/combined, it seems lazy but I guess our texting and short attention spans need shortcuts!?  I recently stopped reading a magazine article that was in shortened code and was dismayed by a business email from an outside vendor with text speak in it – what have we allowed to happen to words?

The Staycation

So it was only a matter of time when marketing folks in the travel industry joined the sheep and combined their terms.  The more famous (and I think hated by everyone) is the “StayCation”. If you are staying home for vacation, chances are you can’t afford a “staycation” in a full service hotel in your city.  In Philly, it would probably cost you more than a beach holiday.

BLeisure – Seriously?

Which brings me to the new term that is REALLY, REALLY annoying me – “BLeisure”.  BLeisure (and Bizcation) has been popping up in corporate travel surveys, travel industry reports and other publications. It’s as if someone suddenly discovered that business travelers often add vacation time to the front/back-end of their trips.  This is not a new discovery folks, it’s just getting a name (a dumb one in my opinion) so that marketing people can be proud of the new products they can target to this group of travelers (a small group in my experience).  But hey, if the millennial generation is doing it, let’s all jump on the bandwagon and call it a new trend!  Tell that young traveler what they are missing out on in the city, play to their FOMO (short for Fear of Missing Out) and get them to stay a day or two longer because they need to show their friends how awesome it is via social media.  If you ask any corporate travel manager, they will tell you that not many business travelers tack on vacation to a business trip because they are busy working – closing deals, tending to clients – not trying to squeeze out a bike tour of Boston or a pizza tour of Chicago.

Business & Personal Travel – Old School

When I, a Gen X-er, first started traveling for work, I would add a day at the front or back-end in the business city if I could because I had the vacation time and the curiosity to travel and explore. At the time (circa 1992),  I wrote the Travel & Entertainment (T&E) policy which included a section on “Combining Business and Personal Travel”.  There was a form to complete to calculate the savings and the tax impact (if there was one) before approving the trip. It was then used to justify the expenses once submitted.  If the form didn’t work out in your favor and the trip costs were denied, I would work with you to show you how to find joy and adjust your itinerary.

The European Combination

My trips to London? When I first traveled, I left Philly after work on Monday night, arrived in the office Tuesday lunch and flew home Saturday morning.  I was in meetings all day and at business dinners each night – I was either in the office, a cab or my hotel room. This lasted two years as it was exhausting and not productive.  Adjusting the flights to include a Saturday,  I saved more than $3-5k on airfare so I added an extra day in the office and an extra day in the city that the company was happy to pay for and I was able to decompress, sleep in and then explore London – it was a win/win. When I found a cheap ticket via Amsterdam , I stayed, played and ate at my own cost (using points where I could) for the weekend before flying to London on Sunday when I would normally arrive.  I was charged for one vacation day and it was so worth it. My colleagues?  They had no interest in staying and exploring London – they fly in and out.

Potential Tax Issues

What I don’t see written much is the tax implications of “BLeisure”.  There are pretty straightforward IRS rules to follow to determine the business portion that is deductible.  We used IRS Publication 463 to determine the business and the personal portion of the trip combination. Most trips are easy enough to figure out as my Amsterdam trip shows but for some other trips with various factors, it can get tricky. If there is a benefit to the employee, it may end up as taxable compensation. I once had a senior executive fly to Hawaii for one day client meeting and stayed the weekend (of course, I questioned this) only for me to find out he had a wedding to attend in Hawaii!  Ah, the stories I could tell from my first job back when T&E rules and interpretations were as pliable as the Stretch Armstrong toy!  It’s important to know and check with your T&E/Finance department before booking your business & personal leisure combination.

So how can we stop the insanity of these dumb combinations in the travel industry and in life (they’re not cute)?  Let me know (or LMK) what you think below of these combinations – do you have a favorite or one that makes you want to throw things like me?