This is how frequent Business Travel affect the Travelers’ health

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Do certain segments of your employees travel extensively? These individuals, often the face of your company, may be at increased risk of a host of physical, behavioral, and mental health issues.

Medical Claims Reveal a High Concentration of these Health Issues in Frequent Travelers

Business travel planners frequently book plans for those away from their families tending to clients and customers, suppliers, and business conferences. However, those away 14 nights or more per month, the definition used in a World Bank study on extensive travel, reveal high concentrations of the following health issues.

  • DepressionThis is how frequent Business Travel affect the Travelers' health
  • Anxiety
  • Obesity
  • Lack of Physical Activity
  • Sleep Issues
  • Smoking
  • Alcohol Dependence
  • Poor Self-Rating of Health

The study results were interpreted as being the result of chronic stress and wear and tear subsequent to frequent business travel.

Can these Issues be Circumnavigated?

An essential component of business activity, corporate travel management solutions companies booked 500 million + business trips in 2016, contributing $547 billion to U.S. GDP. However, the potential health costs resulting from such extensive and frequent travel are beginning to register on the radar. Higher medical claims, lackluster productivity and performance, increased turnover and absenteeism, and short-term disability are taking a toll, prompting the International Well Building Institute (IWBI) to devote time to panel discussions on the implications of business travel and health. A shared responsibility of both the employee and employer, the best corporate travel companies know supporting a culture of health plays an integral role in preventing the potential pitfalls of frequent traveling.

Tips for Helping Employees Maintain Physical, Mental & Behavioral Health While Traveling:

  • Educate
    Help traveling employees to be prepared by providing education programs surrounding:

    • Healthy eating on the go.
      Including essential information on the high-calorie, saturated and total fat counts of restaurant foods compared to home cooked meals.
    • Essential items for healthy travel.
      Do your employees know the keys to packing for a healthy travel experience, including the items necessary for deftly dealing with illnesses and travel related health symptoms than can pop-up on the go?
  • Encourage Tracking & Accountability
    Help employees prevent the formation of bad health and behavioral habits, which repeated over the long run, can have a negative impact on health, encouraging positive health choices by providing reimbursement for:

    • Mobile apps.
      For tracking dietary intake.
    • Subscriptions.
      To services providing workout routines for those working with a limited space environment, such as hotel rooms.
    • National gym memberships.
      Book only accommodations that have gyms, or reimburse employees for memberships to national gym chains to encourage the physical activity necessary to thwart weight gain and symptoms of anxiety and depression.
  • Help Employees Better Manage Stress
    Proactively providing access to training on mindfulness-based stress reduction programs, which are low-cost, short and simple to implement, and highly-effective for treating anxiety, depression, sleep issues, and curbing unhealthy dietary habits.

Looking for a corporate travel solution that’s with you in sickness and in health? Experience the difference with GTI Travel today.

Some Creative Meeting Venues Travelers are using in the new Sharing Economy

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Looking for a cure for monotonous meetings? Event travel planners are seeing an uptick in the booking of ‘unique’ meeting venues sourced from the sharing economy. Creative industries such as those in technology, fashion, and media have long booked non-traditional spaces, however, the trend of turning to more nontraditional meeting venues is spreading like wildfire as companies divert from bland board rooms and hotel meeting spaces in efforts to open minds and inspire innovation. Rather than the standard options commonly found on Breather and WeWork in big cities, businesses are booking privately-owned venues with a bit more pizazz.

What Unique & Interesting Places Could Host Your Next Meeting or Team-Builder?

In today’s sharing economy, opportunities abound in the U.S. and abroad:

  • Floating house boats.Some Creative Meeting Venues Travelers are using in the new Sharing Economy
  • Restaurant venues.
  • Cocktail lounges.
  • Historic wineries, cellars & wine caves.
  • Yoga studios.
  • Photography studios.
  • Museums.
  • Greenspaces.
  • Co-working spaces.
  • Private residences.
  • And more!

How Can You Get There?

Employees shouldn’t have to make their own arrangements to take advantage of unique meeting venues. Many business travel agencies are utilizing the sharing economy to access exclusive opportunities through online marketplaces such as Airbnb for Work and Spacebase. Which might be best for your upcoming engagement?

  • Airbnb
    Operating in over 800 markets globally, Airbnb is continuing to develop its platform, branching out to encompass ‘Airbnb for Work’ and ‘Airbnb Experiences.’ Rather than the usual fare, the former includes unique lodging for business travelers that incorporate a leisure/tourism element into work travel to break the work travel grind. The latter, facilitating experiential offsite meeting locales and internal events. A loyalty program is promised, but as yet, in the works.
  • Spacebase
    Intentionally designed to mimic Airbnb’s platform to make navigation easier, Spacebase was developed by an emerging group of entrepreneurs seeking to marry the needs of the meetings industry with the sharing economy. Matching the needs of businesses with occupancies in independently owned spaces that can double as event venues, businesses can take advantage of unique accommodations in popular destinations such as Munich, Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam, and more. Book a space by the hour or day for 10-100+ people, then retire to upscale or quirky residences by night.

Hooking a Booking

The best travel management solutions make perusing availability and booking a venue easy. It’s easy to specify searches based on factors like space capacity, price per hour, or venue style. Though cost is difficult to compare in an apples-to-apples way with hotel meeting spaces, Spacebase’s website touts booking creative venues can save as much as 40% compared to comparable hotel meeting spaces. Cost per square footage is comparable, as is service quality and response rate. The value of breaking the boredom of office meetings and challenging the traditional to inspire imagination and creativity, however, is immeasurable.

Looking for corporate travel planners with an eye for the exceptional? Experience greatness at GTI Travel today.