There is a lot of the word “budget” around when you look into arranging travel. Here’s this budget airline, which flies to your destination. Look at the hotels you could stay in when you arrive! Here’s a budget option! And when you take that flight or stay in that hotel, you will wonder why people actually choose this experience.
In no small part, the existence of that cheap hotel and that affordable airline are down to one thing: business travel. When you go on holiday, alone or with family, you want comfort. You want luxury, amenities, and fun. In short, you want an experience that makes life exuberant. When you’re traveling for professional business, on the other hand, you want to get work done. Keep the bottom line safe, don’t overspend.
The image all of this gives you of business travel is not, safe to say, an enthralling one. Flight for one. Boxy, joyless hotel room for one. Edible yet bland food. Yes, for one. And it makes you wonder: If you’re traveling for business, do you really want to make it so basic? Isn’t it better to travel and stay in style? Because when you’re doing business, you want to be the best version of you.
Where There’s No Fun, There’s No Freshness
When you travel for business, there can be a range of purposes to your journey. It may be to meet a potential new client and pitch your company to them. It may be to look for new premises as part of an expansion. It could be for a conference where there will be networking opportunities and the chance to bring new resources to your company. And one thing that all of these have in common is that you need to be on top of things.
You want to be engaging, conversational and bright. Awake, aware and observant. You need to be perceptive. And for this to be the case you need to be comfortable. On the flight over there, in your hotel and wherever you eat. How many people can be bright and breezy when they have a sore back, on three hours’ sleep, and looking forward to a cold panini for dinner?
But What About The Bottom Line?
Yes, it is the case that there are some bargain basement flights to be found out there for those who need them. And if you want to go somewhere cheaply, then you can certainly do that on these flights. But they aren’t especially conducive to the experience we’ve gone through above. When you step off a budget flight, your first words are often less “Hello Paris!”. They’re more “Right, where’s the bar? I want to forget I just experienced that!”.
If you’re then journeying onwards to a hotel that has more in common with a doctor’s waiting room than the Ritz, it can be disheartening. Not insurmountable, of course. Great businesses have been built on some fairly austere foundations. But if you’re driving a Formula One car, do you want to put cheap fuel in it and give it the first tires that come to hand?
Is There An Alternative?
With all the above said, it’s obviously no more intelligent a decision to spend every last penny you can get your hands on traveling in style. Even when you make your first million, that can be wasted very quickly if you’re not focused. But when it comes to traveling, your options aren’t limited to penthouse or motel. You don’t have to spend thousands to travel in comfort and style.
Airlines will be keen to fill seats because they need to prepare the whole plane anyway. So even if they’re not getting full price, it’s better to get fare-paying customers on board rather than take no money at all. Providers such as firstclass.flights can find you a seat in the more luxurious end of the market. It allows you to arrive at your destination in much better shape.
The same is also true of accommodation, by the way. You’re not suddenly going to get a room in the Waldorf nor the Ritz for the cost of a budget hotel. You can, however, shop around online to get better rates on rooms in hotels that haven’t hit occupancy rates. The principle of getting a paying customer rather than cleaning and heating a room for nobody applies here.
Remember That You’re Not On Holiday
Now, don’t let all of the luxury go to your head. Staying in a stylish hotel and flying in relative opulence doesn’t mean you’re in town for a weekend of decadence. You’ve come to do a deal, so keep your eye on the prize. The most important thing about traveling for business is that you get there able to give your best. So if there are complimentary drinks on offer, maybe give them a miss.
In any part of your executive world, the principle should never be to squeeze every penny until it hurts. It should never be to throw it around like a sailor on shore leave, either. Your principle, every step of the way, has to be to get the best for less. Show up for an investment meeting acting like a tourist, and you’ll leave with the deal investors would give to a tourist. They’ll laugh you out of the room.
If you stick to the right principles in every aspect of your business life, then before too long you’ll be in a position where you don’t need to be so careful. But you need to earn your way there. You need to show people that you can walk the walk and talk the talk, so to speak. If anyone asks, your flight wasn’t “budget”, “cheap” or even “discount”. No, you got an advantageous deal and flew in first class.
There’s more to being successful in business on an international level than how you travel and where you stay. But everything that is great is built on a foundation of quality. Your business trips are another part of that.
