Road-Trip Relief

Ask any road warrior: The madness is back, with flights packed, hotel rates soaring and no seats left on the car-rental bus. But while business travel is booming, stress levels aren't quite so high. By 2003 corporate travel had fallen 14% from its pre-9/11 peak, making the travel industry try harder to woo back its most lucrative clients. As a result, many business hotels now have resort-like perks and extended-stay discounts, while airlines have cut business-class fares by nearly a third over the past year — enough to make it feasible to bring the spouse along. At the same time, corporate travel policies are evolving to help employees take a break.

"They have to have some semblance of a life," says Bob Olah, chief executive officer of Norwalk, Conn.-based paper company Myllykoski North America, who has started encouraging his employees to enjoy their trips. Olah uses his position as a season-ticket holder with the New Jersey Nets to finagle NBA tickets in other cities, and he takes his workers to museums, nice restaurants and jazz clubs on the road. "If people are working hard, they should do something fun," he says.

Brian Coughlan has come to the same conclusion. The marketing executive, who is on the road two weeks a month or more, used to take late-night flights after work and return right after his business was done, but lately, he makes more time to play at his destination. On a recent trip to California, he hit the golf driving range as soon as he arrived in Los Angeles, then went to a movie and had a nice dinner out. The next day, after his business meeting, he flew to Fresno and repeated the routine. Fighting for space in airplane overhead bins and waiting in security lines is a pain, he says, and if he couldn't relax on the road, he'd probably seek a job with less travel.

No one would ever suggest that business travelers aren't working as hard. But offering road warriors a reason to stay longer is crucial for the travel industry: Although they make up only 18% of total travel volume, business travelers generate about a third, or $153 billion, of all domestic travel spending. Business-trip volume has recently turned around, growing by 5% in 2004 and an expected 3% in 2005. And one key segment on the rebound is combined business and pleasure travel. According to a 2005 survey by consultants Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell, 68% of U.S. business travelers say they added a leisure component to at least one business trip over the past year, compared with 57% in 2003.

To woo this growing market, Loews Coronado Bay Resort in San Diego now has a "Stay & Play" deal that gives business travelers attending meetings the option to extend their convention rate (as much as 75% cheaper than rack rates) for three days prior to or after their event; the deal includes discounts at the marina, spa and kid's club. The Four Seasons in Miami includes a third night free and a $100 food and beverage credit in its "Under the Sun" offer.

Resorts are also trying to provide corporate types with breaks during their work stay. In Scottsdale, Ariz., the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa will offer business travelers three- and nine-hole "golf breaks" between meetings instead of a traditional coffee break. At the Stanford Park Hotel in Menlo Park, Calif., and its sister property, the Lafayette Park Hotel & Spa, in Lafayette, Calif., a new "From Business to Baseball" package includes tickets and transportation to Giants and A's games; if a team isn't in town, they'll substitute a $50 Macy's gift card. And new at the Ritz-Carlton's Central Park hotel in New York: the Executive Stress Break, a $190, hour-long massage.

Many perks, of course, aren't expense account-friendly. But some hotels are offering business guests indulgences that won't raise hackles in the accounting department. The W, for instance, is currently offering an "(un)Wired" package that includes high-speed Internet access, unlimited local phone calls and complimentary movie downloads from Movielink. The chain's New York City properties are letting business travelers check in early on Sunday and giving them a free upgrade, garment pressing, Bloody Mary or mimosa, Monday-morning coffee service and dessert with in-room dining.

For their part, companies say they're not opposed to mixing business with pleasure. "It's win-win," says Mike Fogassey, corporate travel manager at environmental-engineering firm Camp Dresser & McKee in Cambridge, Mass. "The company isn't paying any extra, and the traveler gets the benefit of having a couple extra days." While most corporate travel managers will deny reimbursements for extras such as in-room movies and splurges at the mini bar, they are willing to pick up fitness-center fees and Saturday-night hotel-room charges even though the major airlines have eliminated the fare benefit of staying over a weekend. And companies are allowing travelers to tap the corporate travel agent to book personal trips and to use the company's negotiated rate for extended stays.

It only makes sense to keep road warriors happy, since in other respects they're taking it on the chin. A recent report shows that business travelers think travel conditions have gotten worse in the past 12 months: Nearly half say that wait times in security lines have increased, and more than one-third think flight delays have increased or that in-flight service has gone downhill. They're not entirely imagining things: Earlier this year, complaints about mishandled baggage alone were up more than 40%, compared with a year ago.

Adding a vacation to a business trip can help a corporate nomad get around rising travel costs and take a holiday without losing too much work time. But it can still be expensive, even at the reduced corporate rate. Many business hotels charge as much as $30 a night for parking and more than $15 for a room-service breakfast; at a leisure hotel, parking and breakfast are usually free. And while hotels are eager to advertise all their great on-property amenities, they're less capable of advising travelers about what to do around town for an extra day or weekend.

That's where we come in. We've picked 10 cities that rank among the 25 locales business travelers visit most often, and we asked a cadre of road warriors, local executives and travel agents for advice on fun day and weekend excursions. Here, we introduce you to dozens of quick getaways that will help you add more pleasure to your business life.