Many business travelers are quietly taking their families along on trips

When American Natasha Colkmire returned to work after having her first child, she didn’t want to leave her newborn son with a nanny to go on a business trip.

So she convinced a family member to tag along.

“They would meet up with me when my son needed to be nursed,” she said. “We also had the evenings together.”

The trip worked so well that Colkmire took more business trips with non-colleague companions.

“My grandma went to Houston with me, a friend went to St. Paul, and my mom helped me when I needed to do a job in Washington D.C.,” she said. “Each person loved getting the free trip.”

More than half of business travelers (55%) have had loved ones join their work trips, according to a survey of 4,000 adults from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Spain published Wednesday by the travel tech company TravelPerk.

Among C-suite executives, the number jumped to 73% — with executives saying they’ve had partners (53%), children (22%), friends (21%), and even pets (7%) join their business trips, according to TravelPerk’s data.

For some, bringing loved ones on business trips is a way to reclaim time together, according to Jean-Christophe Taunay-Bucalo, TravelPerk’s president and COO.

“Traveling for work can be lonely,” he told CNBC Travel. “Work trips can be an opportunity to experience something new, and by taking a loved one along, you remain connected.”

Plus, business travelers don’t have to miss family time, be it bedtimes or birthdays, said Taunay-Bucalo.

“For me, it’s about having the best of both worlds, and sometimes performing at my peak also means seeing my kid at the end of a work day — it provides some normality,” he said.

Other business travelers who spoke to CNBC said there is another motivation — money.

Colkmire, who now runs a travel website, recalled the time she joined her husband on a work trip to Vienna, Austria.

“Our expense was cut in half, which was a huge blessing so that we were able to explore an area of the world that we had not yet been to without breaking the bank,” she said.

Bridgette Borst Ombres, a former journalist turned public relations consultant, said she has used work trips to create “budget-friendly mini-vacations” for her family.

“Attending a tech conference at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, was the perfect business trip to bring along my husband and then-2-year-old daughter,” she said. “The conference lasted two days, so while I was working, my husband took our daughter to visit his dad, who lived in the area, and we’d meet up for dinner in the evenings.”

After the conference ended, Ombres and her family spent a few days at Walt Disney World.

“My hotel was covered by my company for the first two days, but I paid for the additional nights and all of our activities. My plane ticket was also covered by the company but I purchased my husband’s ticket separately,” she said.

That blend of personal and business travel, or “bleisure” as it’s known, was valued at $315 billion in 2022 by Allied Market Research. The advisory firm projects blended trips will reach $731 billion globally by 2032.

Bringing loved ones on business trips is common and generally accepted, said Frank Harrison, regional security director for the Americas at risk management company World Travel Protection.

However, that doesn’t mean that employees are revealing their plans to their companies.

“I didn’t keep [my] travel plans a secret, nor did I broadcast them to coworkers,” Ombres said. “Part of it was worrying it might come across as unprofessional.”

Deepak Shukla, CEO of the London-based marketing company Pearl Lemon, said he’s turned three-day work trips into week-long adventures with his wife in New York City, Lisbon, Dubai and Tokyo.

“I don’t hide it from my team,” he said. “If the work’s done and costs aren’t creeping into the company card, it’s nobody’s business.”

However, he said big corporations often view traveling with family as a “policy grey zone.”

“The sticking points are expense claims, insurance coverage, and whether leisure days blur into workdays … [which are] messy for tax and liability,” he said. “That’s why some companies quietly allow it but expect employees to keep receipts and activities clearly split.” 

Ombres said allowing family and friends to join business trips can boost morale and build loyalty among employees.

“I’m all for it,” she said. “As long as it doesn’t interfere with the work.”

She said she sets clear expectations for work to be completed on trips, and as long as that’s met, “there’s no reason to try to micromanage how people spend their personal time.”

Gabe Richman, CEO of Seattle-based biotech company Omic, agreed, saying he’s combined work trips with family vacations in San Diego and Frankfurt, Germany.

He said he encourages employees to travel with loved ones as long as “business objectives are met first.” He said employees should clearly separate personal and work expenses and ensure companies incur no additional costs. Travelers should also be transparent about their plans with their companies, he said.

Beyond that, travelers should make the most of the trip — for business and pleasure.

“Business takes me to places we’d never vacation to otherwise.” he said. “Why waste the opportunity?”