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-   -   Are you having a hard time adjusting to no business travel? (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/coronavirus-travel/2035413-you-having-hard-time-adjusting-no-business-travel.html)

marmoset Mar 6, 2021 5:50 pm

Are you having a hard time adjusting to no business travel?
 
Hello. First post!

Up until a year ago, I had a business trip maybe 30 weeks out of the year. 1, 2, sometimes 3 overnighters. Mostly 1's and 2's. I actually had a really sweet office/road balance and had a LOT of control over my travel. Things were good, and I liked and embraced the lifestyle.

Then Covid hit. At first, it honestly wasn't THAT hard to adjust to being in the office full time. For one, at the time I had a lot of backed-up office work that needed to be addressed. Two, everything was so messed up that I didn't have much desire to venture out.

Now, a year later, it looks like the end of Covid *might* be sort of in sight (ish?).

However, due to changes at my company, the industry, and really the entire world, I feel that the chances of ever resuming the road life I had before are effectively zero. ...and I don't mean "unlikely" or "close to zero", I mean zero. At the absolute MOST, I *might* see 25% of it return...but that would be the best case.

I'm sure there are many, many people in the same boat I'm in.

Curious as to what your thoughts are and how you're handling it.

AussieExPat Mar 8, 2021 1:14 pm

It's funny, most of my travel is (unglamorous) regional US stuff, and while my "less essential" day trips out and back for meetings have dropped substantially, my nights in a hotel are up 200%+ on this time last year, which I would happily give back. It's about to get much worse, too, as 4 of the next 6 weeks are 4+ nights a week on the road due to a specific project.

I see a lot of the travel coming back (slowly) in years to come -- once clients and our companies alike see the value in some face-to-face meetings. I think the virtual meetings will be used long term to expand capacity in my industry rather than replace travel outright. We'll see, I guess.

CO-PLAT Mar 8, 2021 9:35 pm

I spent 41% of calendar nights in hotels in 2019. Haven't stayed in one since late February, 2020. I love working remote (from home or wherever I want). When it is safe to do so (as defined by my employer and customers), I expect my travel will at least resume to the 2019 level.

FlyingHighlander Mar 9, 2021 5:52 am

I'm not having a hard time adjusting, but I do look forward to getting back to it. I went from 120 nights a year of domestic and international trips to nothing. I expect 75% of my travel to come back since its essential to perform my job. For a while my travel might hit 150% of normal since I have a backlog of travel dependent work to clear.

The good from this is that I can now switch to full time remote working, so I'm leaving US east coast and heading deep in to the pacific north west mountains. Looking forward to a lifestyle change, while still traveling about 100 nights a year. I feel bad for those who will have little to no travel again but are also locked into living close to where your employer demands you physically be.

rlorilla Mar 9, 2021 8:34 am

It affected me to the point that I just hung it up and retired.

I went from 12 international trips per year to zero, and nothing forecasted through 2021. The last trip I took was in The Netherlands at the end of February, and while there, I had to cut my trip home so I could make it back home before any lockdowns took effect.

My trips were about 5-10 days long each trip. Now I'm going to struggle keeping my elite statuses.

ikwia Mar 9, 2021 2:21 pm

I was on the road Sunday afternoon through late Friday night every single week. I even traveled parts of the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. For me, the end of travel was a big adjustment for the first few months. Now I'm used to it, and there are pros and cons of being at home. I do miss some of the nice perks of being on the road (the occasional Flagship First Dining, seeing new places, trying restaurants across the country/world, etc.) and it is also more expensive being at home (e.g., no more per diem). But what I'm really worried about is returning to the road. No matter when that happens, a lot of the things that made travel bearable will be gone. I will almost certainly lose my top-tier status and the service and lounge perks that come with that. Hotel lounges may be closed. I will no longer get special treatment at properties that I frequent. Those types of things, plus being out of the travel routine, will probably make travel rather painful, at least for a while. I guess I'll find out, hopefully later this year. If the travel becomes painful, I will probably try to avoid it, which will mean giving up some work and having other work be somewhat less effective.

seigex Mar 9, 2021 8:59 pm


Originally Posted by ikwia (Post 33089019)
I was on the road Sunday afternoon through late Friday night every single week. I even traveled parts of the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. For me, the end of travel was a big adjustment for the first few months. Now I'm used to it, and there are pros and cons of being at home. I do miss some of the nice perks of being on the road (the occasional Flagship First Dining, seeing new places, trying restaurants across the country/world, etc.) and it is also more expensive being at home (e.g., no more per diem). But what I'm really worried about is returning to the road. No matter when that happens, a lot of the things that made travel bearable will be gone. I will almost certainly lose my top-tier status and the service and lounge perks that come with that. Hotel lounges may be closed. I will no longer get special treatment at properties that I frequent. Those types of things, plus being out of the travel routine, will probably make travel rather painful, at least for a while. I guess I'll find out, hopefully later this year. If the travel becomes painful, I will probably try to avoid it, which will mean giving up some work and having other work be somewhat less effective.

Same here, traveling consultant, only spent Saturday at home. I miss a lot of it, especially accumulating the points/miles that paid for my international PTO travel. Eating in out-of-state restaurants and making friends with hotel staff, on top of being face to face with my customer rather than 8 hours on zoom with very little personal connection, even when working with them for several months is a drag.

That said, I like that I've had more time in the last year to work on my house and develop hobbies than I have in the last 5 years. I do look forward to travel again, if it happens. I'm not quite so sure it will, or it will be few and far between as customers realize it's cheaper for them to have remote consultants and they've now gotten past making zoom sessions work. But in the mean time, the plan is to go back to 3 day travel weeks instead of 5, which as much as I miss the travel lifestyle, I'd be OK with. I get a mix of travel and life at home.

My 2019 stats were: 150,000 miles traveled between work and PTO. Worked in or visited India, Chile, Mexico, Canada, Japan and Taiwan. Was 120% billable, including holidays. It was quite a life.

gruimed Mar 10, 2021 8:12 am

I used to have about 12 trips per year, all international, all over the world. I hate "the new normal". I hope thing will go back, but...I'm honestly not sure...

VickiSoCal Mar 10, 2021 11:18 am

Yes. He needs to go. Now.

pinklighter Mar 10, 2021 5:58 pm

I miss being in airports and sipping on nice alcohol in business class, but there are definitely benefits too

LondonElite Mar 13, 2021 6:12 am


Originally Posted by pinklighter (Post 33092034)
I miss being in airports and sipping on nice alcohol in business class, but there are definitely benefits too

Nice alcohol in business class? What airline are you flying?

cargueiro Mar 13, 2021 1:23 pm

Bizarrely my travel has increased. In 2019 I used to travel once or twice a month nornally for 2-4 days away at a time. Then last year it all stopped and then picked up to once every month ir two. This year I am making 2-3 return trips a week - normally same day returns or 1 night trips. I have gained HH Diamond and Hotels.com Gold - something I have never managed before. I am now after Hyatt status.
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355F1 Mar 17, 2021 10:43 pm


Originally Posted by CO-PLAT (Post 33087232)
I spent 41% of calendar nights in hotels in 2019. Haven't stayed in one since late February, 2020. I love working remote (from home or wherever I want). When it is safe to do so (as defined by my employer and customers), I expect my travel will at least resume to the 2019 level.

I spent 201 nights in hotels between business and pleasure in 2019.

since Covid I haven’t stayed even 1 night in a hotel.

so strange....

kiwifrequentflyer Mar 18, 2021 4:18 am

For me, 2020 was going to the be the year I tried to travel less for work, more for pleasure. Well, covid took care of half of that, I guess!

I had a hard time adjusting to no travel and it genuinely made me depressed, but humans are pretty resilient, we adapt to our new normal. I did and used this time to do things I couldn't do during my travel life.

What I have discovered through this break is I have zero desire to return to business travel, but plenty of desire to return to personal travel. And so I will go on just a handful of business trips a year tops, and make most of my travel personal instead from here on out.


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Expat_flyer1 Mar 21, 2021 3:53 am

I got moved to China for supply chain management since other countries are having too many intermittent production shutdowns.

We do domestic business travel here 2-3x per week. Life is basically the same as pre-covid except more production demand, and very few international business workers here .. I think US will be back along soon.


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