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Home : Travel : 48 Easy Business Travel Tips For Millennials And Gen Z Professionals
The challenge with business travel is packing light but being prepared for unexpected situations. Here are some simple business travel tips for Millennials and Gen Z professionals that will help make your life easier on the road.
Let’s be honest, business travel sucks. In addition to our business travel responsibilities, we are also usually remotely managing our regular projects. It’s a delicate balance and whatever you can do to make your travel experience easier will help reduce stress and maintain your mental health.
Older generations, like Gen X, already have decades of business travel experience. But many Millennials and Gen Z are new to business travel and have the added handicap of missing several years during the COVID lockdowns.
Here are some simple business travel tips that will help make your life easier on the road. This article separates tips into preparation, packing, flying, and lodging. Please jump to a specific section for additional info if it’s more relevant for you.
Before you pack your bags and go to the airport, here are some simple tips to help you with your business travel planning.
How far away is the airport from your hotel and the client’s office? Will you be traveling between locations during rush hour? Does your hotel have a business center? What nearby bars and restaurants have the best Yelp reviews?
If a client puts you on the spot and asks you what’s a good place nearby to go for dinner, will you have a response? Unless you have a better option, you might end up eating at a crappy restaurant choice for Gen Z, like Applebees.
What if you boss makes last minute changes to the agenda and asks you to reprint them before the meeting? Where’s the closest printer?
A little Googling before your trip will give you a head start upon arrival.
All passengers traveling within the United States are required by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to have a valid ID. Documents such as a driver’s license from your home state will likely be fine for travel within the U.S., but if you’re traveling internationally, make sure to check with DHS for specific requirements for your nationality.
it is important to ensure that your national identity documents are up-to-date in order to avoid any potential issues at the airport. Renewing government issued IDs can take a long time (7-10 weeks) and trying to rush this process can be an expensive and frustrating ordeal that isn’t always successful. Deal with it now, not later.
The suitcase that you use for business travel, probably shouldn’t be the same bag that you take on PTO. Vacations can get a little crazy, especially if you have kids, and a sticky suitcase covered in Pokemon stickers isn’t ideal to take on your next business trip.
These are the main features that you want in a business travel suitcase: four swivel wheels, compact, durable, and professional looking.
You can find nice hardshell carry on suitcase online for $80-$150 via Amazon.
What’s the most popular color suitcase? Black. Avoid suitcase confusion by adding elements that make your stand out. Adding a ribbon to the handle, a colored strap, or a luggage tag can help your bag look unique.
One of the worst parts of business travel, is doing expense reports. It’s almost impossible to remember related expense details several days or even weeks later. But there are several smartphone apps, like Expensify, that make logging travel expenses easy.
The next time you need to log a travel receipt, just take a photo of it. Expensify will use OCR (optical character recognition) technology to convert your photo into text data and add your receipt to an expense report. The best part, it’s free for most users. Sign up to see if you qualify for the free plan.
Your time is valuable, especially while traveling for business. So, do yourself a favor and sign up for both CLEAR (try CLEAR for free for 2 months) and TSA PreCheck. And if you do a lot of International travel, then you’ll want Global Entry too. Less time in time equals more time to focus on your business trip responsibilities.
Both CLEAR and TSA PreCheck memberships allow you to skip to the front of airport security lines and avoid idiots like this guy. They also don’t require you to take off your shoes or remove your laptop from your bag. And Global Entry is a must have for anyone traveling on International business trips. Customs lines at major airports can sometimes be 1+ hours long.
The TSA line at SFO today was no joke. Thank you @Clear and @AmericanExpress ! Instead of the 45+ minute line made it through in less than five! Worth every penny. pic.twitter.com/8u9eQyJu41
Using both CLEAR and TSA PreCheck, in most cases, I can get through airport security in 5 minutes or less, even when there are long security lines.
Pro Tip: After you sign up for TSA PreCheck, don’t forget to add your Known Traveler Number (KTN) to your airline profiles! Otherwise it won’t automatically get added to your airline tickets.
WiFi hacking is a major problem, especially while traveling. The free WiFi network at the airport or your hotel might really be a hacker spoofing a network and trying to steal your password.
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) will run your Internet traffic through additional security, protect your identity, and even block ads. There are a variety of VPN services to choose from. Some of the more popular options include PIA VPN ($39) and Nord VPN ($99). My personal favorite is PIA VPN because it offers a smartphone app, desktop app, and a browser plugin.
Every flight, hotel stay, and rental car reservation is an opportunity for you to earn rewards points. But most companies don’t bother collecting rewards points for themselves. This is an opportunity for you to personally collect these unclaimed rewards… if you have an account.
Some of the most popular travel rewards programs include Hilton HHonors, Hertz Gold, Marriott Rewards, United Airlines MileagePlus, and Delta SkyMiles. But almost every hotel, car rental company and airline has a rewards program.
Once you know your business travel itinerary, create rewards accounts and then connect your travel reservations so you earn points.
And even if your business travel activity isn’t enough to earn enough points to redeem, rewards members often get valuable perks. For example, some rental car companies let members skip the line, check-in on their app, walk right up to their car, and drive away.
Major airlines, like Delta, American, and United, have VIP airport lounges around the world. These lounges have a variety of advantages to business travelers, including complimentary food and drinks, fast Wi-Fi access, and quiet private work spaces.
Typical airport lounge benefits include:
Many airport lounges even have showers. One time after getting caught in the rain after black tie event, I was able to shower and change in the Delta Lounge at LAX before boarding my redeye flight back to New York City. Without this perk, I probably would have changed out of my dress in a dirty airport bathroom stall and flown back home sweaty, damp, and feeling gross.
The only downside to joining an airport lounge is price. Most companies don’t consider airport lounge membership to be a covered business expense. But if you find yourself booking business travel more than twice a month, an airport lounge membership makes a lot of sense, even if you have to pay for it personally.
Are airline lounges worth it? The amenities that they offer are incredible and makes business travel a much more pleasant experience. However, the membership fee can be expensive, especially if you are paying for it yourself. Also keep in mind that the COVID pandemic temporarily shut down some lounge locations. Definitely do your homework. If there isn’t a lounge at your home airport, then you might want to reconsider. And, if you do choose to get a lounge member, it probably makes sense to sign up for a qualifying credit card that will help you earn you miles and airline status.
When you’re traveling for business, it’s important to have an out of office message scheduled. This will help your coworkers get in touch with you and manage what gets delegated to others while you’re gone.
Here are some tips on how to create an out of office message:
Before you finalize your travel plans, consider these helpful tips business travel tips.
Delayed flights are like dominos. Once one flight gets delayed, it can start a chain reaction throughout the system. So whenever possible, book a morning flight. This will help decrease your delayed flight risk.
Pro Tip: Arriving earlier to your destination might get you there before check-in time. Contact the front desk in advance and request an early hotel check-in.
On Tuesday mornings, each airline looks at what competitors are charging for routes, and then adjusts its fares accordingly. By the afternoon, they’ve settled on a price that is most competitive. This is why Tuesday afternoon is the cheapest time to buy a plane ticket.
The less connections in your travel itinerary the better. Not only do layovers lengthen trips, every flight connection creates an additional risk for flight delays and lost luggage. But if you must book a travel connection, then these are the airports that you should avoid.
The Worst Cities For An Airport Connection:
There are two types of large airport designs: single-big-terminal hubs and remote terminals. Large airports with separated terminal buildings and bad internal transportation systems, can sometimes take you up to an hour to travel from gate to gate for your connecting flight.
The U.S. airports that are the hardest to internally navigate are Los Angeles (LAX), Chicago (CHI), Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), Newark (EWR), Houston (IAH), New York (JFK), San Francisco (SFO), and Salt Lake City (SLC).
Sadly, Salt Lake City is new to this list. Salt Lake City’s airport went through a major re-haul during COVID, for the worse. HOK, the airport’s architects, focused on aesthetics and not functionality. Terminals A and B are connected by a ludicrously long underground walkway that doesn’t include a monorail transportation system. Walking between terminals is a marathon and can take 30+ minutes, essentially guaranteeing that you’ll miss any tight flight connections between terminals. HOK gets a big fat F for their functionally design score.
Airports With The Most Delays:
Besides schlepping gate to gate, you should also consider the average flight delays at your connecting airports. Tight connections are already risky, but at these airports, it might be mission impossible.
Business travel tips for what to pack (and not to pack) on your next work trip.
The biggest tip that I can offer new business travels is: only pack one carry on bag for your trip. Although it may be tempting to bring a larger suitcase, try to limit yourself to one carry on bag. Traveling with only one carry on bag will save you money from checked bag fees, minimize the risk of lost luggage, and be easier to maneuver through the airport.
I once went on an international work trip to the United Kingdom from California with a coworker who brought two extra large suitcases. Let’s call her Brenda for the purposes of this story. Brenda’s strategy to prevent the airline from losing her bag, was redundancy. Since we were going for a week long trip, she packed a second identical bag with another week’s worth of clothes, shoes, toiletries, etc. It was ridiculous. And since she was an over-packer, these twin suitcases were definitely not carry on size. Oh, no. They were giant extra-large suitcases.
Well, the airline did not lose Brenda’s bags. We landed in London and then had to travel from Heathrow Airport to Liverpool after briefly touring some office space near Paddington station. The trip required us to take four different trains with short connecting walks at each station.
Similar to the New York City subway system, the London Underground is a series of turnstiles, staircases, narrow passageways, and also very crowded. Unlike Brenda, the rest of our group, male and female, only packed a single carry on bag each. Navigating the Underground was tricky but doable with our smaller carry on bags. However, Brenda was a mess. She was wearing high heels and was unable to pull both her giant suitcases herself. We also had to assemble as a group to help carry her suitcases up and down stairs. It was a disaster. By the time we got to Liverpool, none of us even wanted to look at her.
Don’t be a Brenda. Pack light. Only bring a carry on with you on business trips.
Having items like toiletries, chargers, office supplies, and business cards already packed in your bag can help you save time each time you travel.
Travel can take its toll on your body – both physically and mentally. And the last thing that you want on your work trip is to be too tired to function.
Everyone’s sleep needs are different. So, try to prepare for unusual situations when traveling. Do you need a dark room? Bring an eye mask. Do cotton pillowcases dry out your hair? Bring a silk pillowcase. Are you a light sleeper? Bring earplugs.
Unfortunately, not all of the guests at your hotel will be quiet business travelers looking to get a good night’s sleep. Your hotel neighbors could include anyone from a wedding party to a couple having a loud fight (or sex).
Turn on the AC or you room fan to help create some additional white noise if you have too. And don’t be afraid to call the front desk if it’s too unbearable.
I once made the mistake of booking a unique Airbnb across the street from a music venue during SXSW. Although I was there for the music festival, I still needed to get some sleep. I’m glad I packed earplugs.
Organize you carry on items into similar piles (i.e. snacks, makeup, charging cables, toiletries) and place each pile into a separate Ziploc bag. This will allow security agents to look inside the bags instead of digging through your stuff.
Not only will doing this help speed up the next time you are selected for a random TSA security screening and body scan, but it will also help you find things faster.
Ironing sucks. No one wants to iron at home, let alone in a hotel room. Here’s a cool trick: Pack all of your dress clothes on hangers in individual dry cleaner bags. Then collectively put them into a garment bag that can be folded neatly into your suitcase. Doing this will prevent your clothes from getting wrinkled and save you from ironing at the hotel.
Rolling is another packing trick that will help prevent your clothes from wrinkling. It also helps save space inside your suitcase.
Just roll your clothes and before you put them inside your luggage. It’s that easy. This space saving packing trick works great for camping trips too.
What happens if you split your pants or someone spills food on your shirt? Can you reconfigure your outfits to get through the rest of the business trip? Try to pack pants, jackets, skirts, and shirt combos that work interchangeably with each other.
Over packing shoes is another rookie business traveler mistake. For shorter trips, try to pack only two to three pairs of shoes. One pair of dress shoes and one pair of casual shoes. And if your hotel has a pool or beach, then you might want to pack a pair of flip-flops too. But that’s probably it.
Don’t forget to use the space inside your shoes for packing. Everything from rolled up belts to socks can get stuffed inside the shoes in your suitcase.
It doesn’t make sense to bring more than one coat on a business trip. Coats take up too much space in your bag, so if at all possible, build all of your outfits around a single coat. Carry the coat with you and place it in the overhead luggage bin during your trip.
To keep your suitcase from becoming top-heavy and falling over, place heavier items at the base by the wheels. This will help to stabilize the bag when it is upright and stop items packed inside your bag from being squished.
At the end of your trip, you will be returning home with with a variety of dirty clothes and shoes. Pack a few extra plastic bags to keep dirty items separated from the rest of your stuff.
If you forget to pack extra plastic bags, your hotel room might have a plastic dry cleaning bag in the closet. Also look under the plastic liners inside garage cans. The cleaning staff will often leave an entire roll of clean garage bags in the bottom of the garbage can.
There’s nothing worse than arriving at your final destination late at night and finding out that you have zero food options available. Airport restaurants start slowing shutting down after dinner, and not all hotels have late night food options.
Pack a few healthy snacks in your luggage. They will tase really good at 2 AM after a long day of travel delays.
When you return to your room after a long day of meetings, what do you plan on wearing for the rest of the night? Your work clothes, or just sit around in your boxers or panties? What if you need to walk down the hall to the ice machine or run an errand down the street?
Business attire is important, but you’ll likely have time to explore your surroundings on foot. Pack a casual outfit for lounging around the hotel or walking around the immediate area.
When traveling for business, it’s a good idea to be prepared for everything from a hangover to muscle pain and diarrhea. You don’t need to bring a full box or bottle of medicine, only a few doses. Just remember to replenish them after your trip.
It’s okay to bring a water bottle through airport security, as long as it’s empty. Once you’re inside the terminal, fill it up at a water station. Not only is it better for the environment, but it will save you money too.
You can also reuse a plastic water bottle that you recently purchased. Just save the empty bottle and refill it later at a water station.
Bearing gifts shows consideration and helps to build relationships. Local coffee, chocolates, or souvenirs are affordable and unique gift ideas that won’t take up too much space in your luggage.
Your phone, laptop and tablet should all have a full battery charge to help you pass the time productively while you’re at the airport and on your flight. Do it in advance so you won’t need to fight for an outlet at the departure gate. Also, consider these helpful settings tweaks that will make your iPhone battery last longer.
All major streaming apps, including Netflix, HBO Max, Paramount+, and Disney+, have videos that you can download for offline viewing. Download this content at home before your trip, not while on the runway before takeoff or using throttled airport WiFi. Even with a high-speed WiFi connection at home/work, it still might take 10+ minutes to download this content to your phone or laptop.
Even if you aren’t a regular book reader, there are plenty of situations where a book can be a valuable part of your business travel kit. What if your battery dies on the flight? Or you get an eyestrain headache from screen fatigue? When planning for your business travel, make sure to include a book to keep you entertained.
Don’t rely on the airlines to tell you where your bags are. The Apple AirTag (~$30 each) is a small and affordable tracking device that you can easily slip inside you suitcase, laptop bag, backpack, purse, etc.
Even if your suitcase isn’t lost, the AirTag still has its advantages. While everyone else is crowded around the luggage carousel hawkishly looking for their suitcases, you can just grab a seat and wait until you get a proximity alert from your AirTag.
Here are some business travel tips for your time at the airport.
One time I forgot where I parked. It was extra embarrassing because another employee was with me. We spent about 45 minutes walking around the Salt Lake City Airport’s parking garage after the Sundance Film Festival trying to find my car.
After that experience, I started logging where I parked using various apps, reminders, and even calendar appointments. But what I’ve found to be even easier and more effective, is simply taking a picture of your car that includes a location marker. After your trip, just scroll through your phone for the photo to remind yourself where you parked.
Also, if you have location services enabled on your smartphone, the exact GPS location of your car should be stored with the photo making it possible to find your car even without any visible landmarks or identifiers.
An Apple AirTag is a small wireless Bluetooth device that can be used to track the location and movement of anything it’s attached to. Hide one inside your car. That way if you forget where you parked or if your car got towed or stolen, the AirTag will help you find it faster than the Police.
Lost luggage sucks, especially while you’re on a business trip. That outfit that you were planning on wearing during your business presentation tomorrow, might not make your connecting flight. To reduce your risk of lost luggage, you shouldn’t check a bag on your flight. Try to fit what you need into one carry on-sized suitcase.
However, sometimes you have no choice and have to check a bag. I’ve had to travel with corporate gifts and marketing materials that required me to check bags before. In that case, only pack what you absolutely need for the next 24 hours in your carry on bag. Then put the rest into your checked bag. This might include toiletries, clothes, and whatever business materials that you might need for the next day. That way if your luggage does get lost, you will at least have a day to sort it out with the airline.
The first thing I do when I enter an airport is walk up to an airline kiosk and print my boarding pass. I usually board my flight using the digital boarding pass on my phone, but I always like to have a printed backup copy. Here’s why:
I once had a coworker miss their connecting flight because the battery on his phone died. We were late and rushing to the gate for our flight. But when he took out his phone to scan his boarding pass, his phone was dead. There wasn’t enough time to remedy the situation before take off and he missed the flight.
Even if you are using an add to help track expenses, like Expensify (see above), filling out expense reports still sucks. Usually the more senior member of the company will pay for meals, Uber cars, etc., but not always. The more expenses that you put on your corporate card, the longer it will take for you to file your report after your trip.
But if you are traveling with a group, then take turns covering shared expenses. From meals to taxi rides, there are plenty of expenses that you can take turns paying for if you stick together.
Even with all of the extra security these days, airports are still popular targets for thieves.
To help prevent my bag from rolling away without me, I use a small black strap to leash it to me. But you can use a ribbon or strap or anything similar. Thieves won’t realize that you’ve connected yourself to your bag and you’ll get alerted when you feel your bag move.
This can come in handy if you need to take a nap in the terminal or have to sit at an airport barstool with your bag parked behind you.If someone tries to walk away with your bag, you’ll feel it tug against your body.
From airports to coffee shops, there are public USB charging stations everywhere. But did you know that hackers can access your phone’s data through your changing cable? It’s a hacking technique called juice jacking.
One simple way to protect your smartphone from juice jacking is by using a USB Data Blocker. These small devices are the same size as a USB thumb drive and allow charging power to reach your phone while blocking any data access at the same time.
The following section of business travel tips will help you after you board your flight.
I made the mistake once of wearing a sweater on a flight once. It was winter and it was freezing outside, but not on my flight. The plane was hot and I was sweating like crazy. But I couldn’t take off my sweater because I was only wearing a bra underneath.
I also like to pack a hoodie sweatshirt or at least a wool hat for overnight and International flights. A cold night flight can make sleeping difficult or even make you sick.
But a pair of over-ear active noise-cancellation headphones can be a lifesaver. Active noise-cancellation technology uses microphones to observe the sounds that are around you and then cancel them out. With an average price tag of $200+ they can be an expensive part of your travel gear, but 100% worth it.
Turn on, tune out, and enjoy a movie or get some work done on your laptop.
Here are a few popular brand names to search for:
It’s a lot more common that it used to be, but not all aircraft have USB charging ports at every seat. This is especially true for budget airlines. A portable USB battery charger is a smart investment and will pay for itself the first time you really need it.
I once dated someone who liked to completely move in to a hotel room. She would take all of her clothes out of her suitcase and then put them in the dresser drawers in our hotel room. Inevitably, she would accidentally leave things behind all of the time.
Instead, don’t spread out when you unpack. Try to centrally unpack and keep most of your stuff in one spot. For example, even when traveling alone, I will still book a hotel room with two beds. I sleep in one bed and use the second bed for organizing my belongings.
A bed is a big flat surface with enough room to layout everything from your garment bag to your electronics. Then keep everything else in your suitcase. This way you won’t have to worry about leaving anything behind and be able to see all of your belonging at once.
Don’t be shy about telling the hotel staff that your reason for staying at the hotel is business travel. Business travelers are important customer segment to the hotel industry because they are less seasonal, more predictable, and frequently return to the same location creating repeat business.
Ask for things that will make your hotel stay better. Perks like early check-in, late checkout, access to meeting rooms, free WiFi, and especially a quiet room.
Most vacation travelers ask for a view, but when traveling for business, you should prioritize peace and quiet. You may be too busy to enjoy the view anyway. Request a room away from noisy areas like elevators, large groups (weddings, family reunions, etc.), or any high traffic areas like the fitness center. Higher levels are usually better too, and will put you above street noise and headlights.
One of the first things that I do when I walk into my hotel room, is wipe everything down with antibacterial wipes. This includes all light switches, knobs, handles, buttons, and the toilet seat and remote control.
I want anything that I plan on touching sanitized. I did this pre-COVID too. Hotel remote controls are especially gross to me. For some reason, I always think the previous guest was scratching their private parts while watching TV like Al Bundy from Married With Children.
Have you ever needed to polish your dress shoes on a business trip? If you’re stuck in a hotel room without shoe polish, just grab a tissue and the little bottle of moisturizing lotion. After all, leather is just skin, right?
Do a small test first before committing to a full shoe shine. Most shoes will be fine, but try this trick at your own risk. Dab a little bit of the lotion on the tissue and apply it to a small section of leather. Different types of leather may react differently.
If everything looks good after the test, then continue gently applying small dabs of lotion to your shoes. Then gently rub the lotion on using a tissue or rag. With a little care, your shoes should start to show a shine.
Just to be clear, this isn’t a long term care solution. After your business trip, you should continue using real shoe polish and not random bottles or lotion.
It can be hard to resist posting the perfect TikTok or Instagram post, especially while you’re traveling and seeing so many new things. But you should think twice before posting.
Both thieves and predators have been know to stalk social media for clues on when victims might be out of town. While you are sharing photos of fancy business dinners in Spain, thieves might use it as an opportunity to rob you. And if you left your family behind for a business trip, do you really want to announce that you are out of town and that they are home alone without you?
One compromise is to use social platforms like BeReal that only share info with a small group of friends and not the public.
The challenge with business travel is packing light but being prepared for unexpected situations. Hopefully these simple business travel tips for Millennials and Gen Z professionals will help make your life easier on the road.
For reference, use these links below to jump back to a section of the business travel tips covered in this article:
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