Business travelers are made, not born. And almost everyone who travels frequently for work can list off at least a few things they wish they’d known when they first got into the game. It’s not all obvious—like the importance of committing to a points and miles program early on; these programs literally exist because of you, dear business travelers—and some is nuanced and only learnable with time, like finding a hotel that feels like home and lets you leave a suit in the closet.
To gather the rules of the road, we chatted with highly-seasoned business travelers about what they wish someone wiser had told them at the start of it all. These sources come from many lines of work and walks of life—museum directors who know which gala dresses are easiest to pack, private equity and corporate law guys who prefer boutique hotels, young communications specialists who’ve learned to find the romance in everything, and so on. (A number of people we interviewed asked to use a pseudonym—this is hard hitting stuff!—which you’ll see reflected below.)
Read on for their tips and tricks of successful business travel.
Work Travel Is Not Leisure Travel
It’s exciting when work sends you to far-flung places that you’ve always wanted to visit—but don’t let the novelty trick you into thinking you’re getting a vacation. “My first couple of work trips took me to Europe, which was very exciting for a fresh out of college twenty-something,” says Zelda, a communications specialist for the International Council on Clean Transportation. “Being a young person who couldn’t afford a transatlantic flight and three-star hotel rooms on my dime, I immediately felt the need to get the most out of the experience. That pressure, combined with the actual work I needed to do on the trip, was a recipe for burnout.”
You have to do your work, and do it well, in order to continue being sent on work trips. And you’re likely going to be exhausted thanks to the itinerary, networking, and drinking, all of which are reliable elements of her business trips. Make sure work, and then rest, are your priority, before finding time for sightseeing and moments of leisure in your after-hours. To that end…
Alex Green
Prioritize Rest
“I have given up trying to get the most out of the hours directly around my required work, because I really need those times to rest,” Zelda says. “A fancy hotel room should be enjoyed to its fullest. A bathrobe? Pool? Spa? Even just sleeping or watching TV in freshly changed sheets. Charli XCX says it best: Everything is romantic.” Give yourself a break, especially if you’re going to be on the clock for longer hours than when you’re at home.
Convenience Is Not King—Loyalty Is
Frequent business travelers are the reason points, miles, and loyalty programs exist, and to not take advantage of them only hurts you. This may feel less true in recent years, as it’s become notoriously difficult to earn status at one single airline. But most agree that the following remains true: The moment it becomes clear that travel is going to be a big part of your job, choose an airline alliance and lock into the loyalty program.
When Lucie, now a partner at a major management consulting company based in New York, first began traveling a lot for work, she booked whichever airline had the most convenient departure time. “I admittedly was not in that game as early as I should have been, and then I realized the money that I was leaving on the table.” Now, she has “insane” Delta status that makes her personal travel basically free, she says.
Delta, among the sources in this story, is far and away the favorite, with United not-so-close behind. But if you’re wondering which airline has the best rewards program, Paul, a corporate lawyer, keeps an eye on the situation and says it’s not always so simple: “Some airlines are clearly better than others, and it’s fluid. Right now, I’ve been getting way better deals from American Airlines than United or Delta.” Which brings up another point: Even if you’re loyal to one airline, enroll with everyone and collect points wherever you can.
Book Flight Times Strategically
Give yourself the luxury of time and book your flight to arrive the day before you have to get down to business. You don’t have to take that red eye. Rahul Khosla of Heady.io says, “It makes the trip longer, yes, but it’s much easier to keep your routine this way and feel more sharp for the meeting [or work event] itself. [Otherwise] eating gets weird, sleep gets disrupted, and you probably won’t have time to go to the gym because you’ll be too tired. One more perk of flying out early—I’m not as stressed if delays happen, because I know I’m not cutting it super close.”
Clear and TSA PreCheck Are Non-Negotiable
“I don’t know if you can call yourself a savvy business traveler without them,” says Paul of programs like Clear and TSA PreCheck that help expedite travelers’ journeys through airport security. The lines at most airports are long and only getting longer, and the lounge is sitting on the other side waiting for you. Divide the annual fee by the amount of times you traveled last year and see how little it will really cost you. (And, if you’ve got a great credit card, the fee may even be waived.)
For the Best Shot at an Upgrade, Book Premium Economy
Regardless of your status, it’s unlikely, according to my sources, that you’ll get upgraded out of basic economy into business. But premium? That’s when they see you. That’s when they might move you up. And if they don’t, you’re already in premium. It’s difficult to regret.
Always Ask for the Upgrade, But Be Super Polite About It
That second part is key. You have nothing to lose when you request an upgrade, whether that’s from the aforementioned premium into business, or from a standard hotel room to an executive suite. But it’s also true that you’ll catch more flies with honey: Gate agents and hotel receptionists are the keepers of the keys, they’ve seen it all, and they get to be arbitrary. If you approach them with even a shred of entitlement, they’ll clock it and you’ll lose out. Humble yourself, business traveler. “I’ve gotten some outrageous upgrades just from asking nicely,” one private equity man tells me.
Alex Green
Use the Packing Cubes
While there’s a clean split between checking bags and carrying them on, in no space were these sources more unanimous than in their exultation of packing cubes. Nearly everybody that I spoke to brought them up organically, including Carl Friedrik, co-founder of Niklas Oppermann (and not just because his company sells them). “I do it by type of clothing,” he says, “and then you can use one or two for dirty laundry as the trip progresses. I’m a convert to packing cubes.”
Don’t Take Jet Lag Lightly
Jet lag is the bane of the business traveler’s existence. Some cases are worse than others, but it’s always looming to some degree in the shadow of those who change time zones. Tips on how to best cope vary, but there’s a consensus around one particular strategy: adopting the time zone of your destination the moment you board your flight. “So, if you’re landing at 9 in the morning wherever you’re going, you have to act like it’s night on the plane even if it isn’t where you’re leaving from,” DEI executive Yentil Rawlinson of Sherwin-Williams tells me. “It’s a necessary evil and the only thing I’ve tried that works.” Some travelers even manually reset their phone to the time zone of their destination upon boarding the plane, to begin adjusting. However you can trick yourself, trust your body will follow.
Find a Hotel That Can Feel Like Home
I know we said that loyalty is everything, and for airlines it absolutely is. It is similarly difficult to deny the power of accruing those big brand points at hotels, which many travelers use to cash in on a luxury stay (ideally, on their personal travels in the future). But while you’re untethered and unmoored, go for something that feels like a version of home to you. “I generally prefer staying in independent hotels because they get to know you over repeat visits,” says Paul. “If you stay at a big brand, it’s hard—the concierges at these places are not as good as they used to be. In London, I used to stay at the Chiltern before it burned down. I’ve gotten on a flight, texted them that I forgot my pajamas, and guess what’s waiting for me pressed on arrival? High thread count cotton pajamas.” He would even leave a suit and tie there. While many such properties aren’t part of loyalty programs, World of Hyatt brought Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and the boutique properties available on their booking platform, under the Hyatt umbrella this year—so it’s becoming possible to earn points while staying boutique.
You Can Expense Those Mundane Hotel Services, So Make Use of Them
One of the most valuable lessons a former CEO taught Rawlinson was to hand your clothes over to the hotel pressing service upon arrival. “If you’re going for four or five days, keep one outfit and have the rest pressed,” she says. “And at the end, have them all dry cleaned so you’re only packing clean clothes.”
Build Out Your Wrinkle-Free Wardrobe
Mariet Westerman, director of the Guggenheim, is wearing one of her favorite suits for travel when she speaks to me. It’s from Theory. “They make these really lightweight clothes that you almost never have to dry clean.” When things get more formal, a gala for example, she trusts one brand: Missoni. “Missoni just does not crinkle—they have the crinkles they need, and that’s it.” For the boys, most observe that suits have been phased out of their packing list entirely. They instead bring black or navy pants, and black or navy shirts.
Alex Green
Your Gym Shoes Are Also Your Walking Shoes and Your Casual Office Shoes
You need one pair of shoes that can do it all. Multiple people I spoke to swear by the collaboration sneaker between New Balance and Aimé Leon Dore for this exact multi-purposing.
The Hotel Gym Is an Extension of the Workplace
Bring nice gym clothes, people—odds are, your boss is going to be at the treadmill next to yours. “You do not want to show up in ratty gym shorts,” Bianca Consunji of Netflix tells me, “I speak from experience. You also want to bring headphones, to signal that this is time that you want for yourself.”
Talk to Your Coworkers—Especially When They’re the Locals
Whether they’re fellow convention-goers, or coworkers from the office abroad, the people who live in the destination you are traveling to harbor the best recommendations for low-key, off-the-beaten path things to do once the working day is done. Westermann from Guggenheim was in Hong Kong with a locally-based colleague, and they had a lot of time to spend together. He told her: “Let’s go walking in the warehouse district and you’ll see a different demographic.” They walked and took the metro together, as was his preference, rather than hailing cabs; this showed her the city anew.
Lucie spent six months in Melbourne early in her career, and became embedded in her team there—she never needed to Google a recommendation. Khosla’s approach is similarly simple: “I try to catch local sports wherever I am. I have a client outside of Dallas, for example, and last time I traveled there I went to a rodeo with my colleague. Seeing sports, live or at a local bar, is a good way to get a vibe of a different place in just a few hours, and it’s also a good way to bond with clients or potential clients.”
Hold on to Your Humanity
While listing off what goes into her toiletry bag, Lucie tells me, “I just feel more like myself when I have my perfume on.” It’s a small aside that gets at something bigger: Traveling a ton for work comes at the cost to your personal life, so it’s important to find little ways to get back to yourself.
Smith says, “I like to eat meals by myself to get centered again. It helps for a few reasons: I’m taking care of myself, which is hard to remember to do when you’re working in a new environment; and it’s grounding, almost meditative, drawing attention to your senses. I love just crunching on some carrot sticks and staring out at the world, listening to the sounds around me.” When that’s not enough, sometimes the most important thing is to just get home to your own bed, as soon as you can.
