The Hotwire® and Egencia "Bleisure" Travel Report Reveals Half of Americans Blend Leisure and Business Travel

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- With the big convention season right around the corner, Hotwire.com®, a leading discount travel site, today revealed additional results from its third annual American Travel Behavior Survey, conducted online on its behalf by Harris Poll in October 2013 among over 2,000 U.S. adults. According to the survey, just under half (49 percent) of full-time/part-time employed American adults who travel for business have ever tacked leisure time onto a work trip, with younger travelers ages 18-34 (56 percent) doing so more than their slightly older counterparts ages 35-44 (37 percent), pointing to a growing trend of blending business and leisure – or "bleisure" – travel.

"You might have to travel for business, but it doesn't mean you have to let much-deserved leisure trips fall by the wayside," said Henrik Kjellberg, president of Hotwire®. "Popular domestic business hubs like Atlanta see a ton of foot traffic during convention season. However, once the corporate groups leave – typically on Thursdays – hoteliers drop their prices for the weekend to try and fill rooms with leisure travelers. As such, you can spend a couple of extra days away to explore or relax in one of these great cities while taking advantage of affordable hotel deals."

To illustrate the savings bleisure travelers can score, Hotwire® has paired the difference in weekend vs. mid-week hotel rates with some of the most popular business travel destinations according to the Egencia® 2013 Global Travel Forecast:

*Sample deals are based on hotel bookings made on Hotwire.com on 8/20/14 and 8/27/14 for travel between 9/9-9/11/14 and 9/12-9/14/14, with the exception of Washington, D.C. which is based on bookings on 8/27/14 for travel 10/14-10/16/2014 and 10/17-10/19/2014.

Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of Hotwire® from October 8-10, 2013 among 2,020 adults ages 18 and older, among which 912 are employed full-time/part-time and 347 ever travel for business. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact monica.caires@grayling.com. 

About Hotwire
Hotwire.com is a leading discount travel site with low rates on airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars and vacation packages.  Launched in 2000, Hotwire, Inc. obtains deep discounts from its travel suppliers to help travelers book unsold airline seats, hotel rooms and rental cars.  Hotwire.com is an award winning website and Hotwire, Inc. is an operating company within Expedia, Inc. For more information, visit http://www.hotwire.com. Hotwire.com operates sites in 12 countries worldwide: www.hotwire.com, www.hotwire.com/uk, www.hotwire.com/ie, www.hotwire.com/au, www.hotwire.com/nz, www.hotwire.com/se, www.hotwire.com/no, www.hotwire.com/dk, www.hotwire.com/de, www.hotwire.com/hk, www.hotwire.com/mx and www.hotwire.com/sg. In addition to Hotwire.com, Hotwire, Inc. also operates www.carrentals.com.  

© 2014 Hotwire, Inc.  All rights reserved. Hotwire, Hotwire.com and the Hotwire logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Hotwire, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.  CST # 2053390-40.

About Egencia
Egencia is a leading full-service travel management company delivering innovative business travel technology and expert local service to more than 10,000 clients in 64 countries around the world. As part of the Expedia group EXPE, one of the world's largest online travel companies, Egencia provides forward-looking companies with the ability to drive compliance and cost savings in their travel programmes, while meeting the needs and requirements of the modern business traveller.  For more information please visit us at www.egencia.com or follow us on Twitter @Egencia.

Egencia and the Egencia logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of the Expedia group in the U.S. and/or other countries.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.  © 2014 Egencia, LLC.  All rights reserved.  CST # 2029030-50; CST # 2083922-50.

Contact:
Monica Caires
Grayling
(323) 648-5426
monica.caires@grayling.com

SOURCE Hotwire.com