Some travelers combine business with family vacations

REGION

That image of the lonely business traveler attending meetings by day and then going back to an empty hotel room are, for many, a thing of the past. Frequent-flyer miles and flex time sometimes allow the spouse or kids to tag along on trips. Hotels are also helping by making sightseeing arrangements for family members while a spouse is in meetings.

Kirby Hickey of Red Lion travels occasionally in his role as interim director of the endowment fund for the World Methodist Council. In the past year, he has gone to South Africa, Korea and China on business. The council pays his way, but he spends his own money to have his wife accompany him. Since 1991, there was only one trip - to Rio de Janeiro - where he went solo. In South Africa, the couple extended their stay and went on a safari together.

"Her job is flexible enough to allow her to go," Hickey said. "I am a family person, and she enjoys going. It makes traveling a lot easier."

Hickey likes having someone to talk to after a day of meetings. Many of his fellow conference attendees bring family members, too.

"My wife might attend some (business) sessions or get together with the other ladies," he said.

There are benefits to combining business and family travel, Hickey said. Among them are lower costs, having a companion who shares your interests, and experiencing a place you might otherwise never visit.

High Hotels Ltd. operates five hotel properties in the midstate, including Courtyard by Marriott and Hampton Inn in Lancaster; Hampton Inn in York; and Homewood Suites by Hilton and Hampton Inn in Mechanicsburg. All accommodate business travelers who attend meetings in the area. Many business travelers bring their families. Stephanie Reese, vice president of sales and marketing, said the region's activities and sights are big attractions.

Hersheypark and Gettysburg are big draws, she said. "In Lancaster, they like the Amish lifestyle experience, Sight and Sound Theatre and the Strasburg Railroad."

The hotels try to make it easier for families to have a good time. High Hotels includes information booklets and flyers in each room. They make someone available to answer questions about things to do nearby.

"It's another way we can offer benefits to our corporate customers," Reese said.

Many business travelers staying at High Hotels are there weekly or monthly. They might take a look around, notice all there is to do and see in the area, and then may bring their families along when they visit again, Reese said.

Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Co. sees an upswing in the number of business travelers bringing family during the summer months. That is when Hersheypark is open. About 25 percent of business travelers come with family, said Jill Cecala, director of Northeast sales and marketing for Hershey Resorts. That percentage increases when the park is open and dips when it's closed.

Businesspeople traveling with their families should plan ahead, Cecala said. They should prearrange accommodations and bedding type, schedule certain activities, arrange forbaby sitters, ifneeded, and make dining reservations before they leave.

"We arrange spouse programs and children's programs, such as spa, golf Chocolate World, Hersheypark, offsite trips to Gettysburg and Lancaster," Cecala said.

Hickey uses the Internet to get information about a destination. Then he has a travel agent make arrangements and reserve side tours.

About 80 percent of the clients who book with Bailey Travel and Bailey Coach in York are corporate. Most go solo, said John Bailey, president. They tend to travel frequently for business and build up frequentflyer miles. Then they use those miles to take their family on a separate vacation, he said.

Bailey thinks there are pluses and minuses to bringing the family along.

"The plus is that you're together to do things," he said. "The minuses are that most people in a work environment don't have time on a business trip to do things with the family. It also can be expensive."

Other minuses include the temptation to skip out on a meeting or two to meet up with family or keeping the kids quiet while you take a business call in the room. But the key is to keep the family busy while the one there on business attends meetings.

BY LORI MYERS

Contributing Writer

Copyright Journal Publications Inc. Aug 17, 2007
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved