Hotels.com research finds 53% adopt a different work persona on business trips as the platform launches new tools for self-booking corporate travellers.
Hotels.com has launched a new business travel experience as its Booked for Business Report highlights changing habits among Canadian corporate travellers.
- 53% of Canadian business travellers surveyed by Hotels.com say their work personality differs from who they are at home, rising to 73% among Gen Z.
- Among travellers with defined employer limits, the average hotel allowance is C$242 per night and the average per diem is C$122 per day.
- Free breakfast is the most valued hotel perk at 53%, while 59% say the best business destinations make it easy to combine work and leisure.
- Hotels.com launched its new business travel experience on Sept. 1, 2026 with saved work preferences, Quick Rebook, business-focused filters and eligible rewards.
(NEWS) TORONTO, Ontario, Canada, 2026-Sep-01 — /Travel PR News/ — Canadian business travellers are becoming more deliberate about how they use work trips, balancing employer budgets and productivity with hotel comfort, flexible schedules and opportunities to extend a journey beyond meetings. New research from Hotels.com finds that 53% say their personality at work differs from who they are at home, while nearly six in 10 value destinations that make it easy to combine business and leisure.
The findings come from the new Booked for Business Report, based on a survey of 1,000 Canadian adults who had travelled domestically or internationally for business during the previous three years. The research was conducted from Aug. 10-18, 2026.
The report arrives as Hotels.com, an Expedia Group company, rolls out a new business travel experience on its website and app. The service is designed primarily for travellers who arrange their own work trips rather than using a corporate booking platform.
Convenience and practical hotel amenities lead the wish list
Nearly three-quarters of respondents, 72%, said good transportation, hotel options and overall travel convenience are important characteristics of a strong business destination. At hotel level, 68% identified high-speed or free Wi-Fi as a feature that makes a stay work well for business travel, followed by free breakfast at 59% and good value for money at 47%.
When asked specifically about hotel perks, free breakfast ranked first at 53%, ahead of room upgrades at 33%, loyalty rewards at 32% and early check-in or late check-out at 32%. The result suggests that functional benefits that simplify the working day can carry more weight than traditional upgrade-style rewards.
Budget parameters remain important. Among respondents whose employers set defined spending limits, the average accommodation allowance was C$242 per night and the average daily per diem was C$122. At the same time, 42% said they stay in nicer hotels when travelling for work than on leisure trips.
Work trips are changing daily routines
Hotels.com found that business travel alters more than spending patterns. Some 53% of Canadian respondents said they wake earlier on work trips than on leisure trips, and 55% described themselves as consistently punctual when travelling for business. A third said they socialize more while away for work.
The contrast is even stronger among younger travellers. Seventy-three percent of Gen Z respondents said their work personality differs from their home personality, while 40% said they socialize more during business trips. Sixty-six percent of Gen Z travellers also said a good business destination should make it easy to combine work and leisure.
Planning habits show a similar split. While 45% of respondents described themselves as planners and 42% said they are highly organized at work, only 25% said they take charge of booking travel outside work. Value remains the leading leisure-trip priority for 45%, and 42% said they apply budgeting skills learned through work travel to personal trips.
Toronto leads Canadians’ preferred business destinations
Toronto ranked first among the destinations Canadian respondents considered best for business travel, selected by 32%. New York followed at 30%, London at 20%, Los Angeles at 16%, Tokyo at 14%, Miami at 12% and Paris at 11%.
The ranking fits a wider preference for destinations where work and leisure can be combined. Fifty-nine percent of respondents said the best business destinations make that blending easy, suggesting that transport links, hotel quality and after-hours options are increasingly evaluated together rather than separately.
That pattern is also visible in broader Canadian business-travel data. The Global Business Travel Association projects Canadian business travel and meetings spending will reach C$40.1 billion in 2026, up 4.3% year over year. GBTA research also found that 60% of Canadian business travellers had extended a work trip for leisure.
September emerges as a peak month for work travel
The timing of the report is notable because September is one of the busiest periods of the year for Canadian corporate travel. One in five respondents, 20%, identified September as among their busiest months for work trips, followed by October at 16% and July at 15%.
For hotels, travel managers and booking platforms, the clustering of demand around early autumn can influence pricing, availability and the importance of flexible booking conditions. It also increases the value of features that reduce repeated search and booking work for frequent travellers.
Hotels.com adds work-trip profiles and faster rebooking
The new Hotels.com business experience allows users to create a business profile within the same account they already use for leisure travel. Travellers can save preferences such as maximum nightly rate, Wi-Fi, breakfast, gym access and refundable rates, then apply those choices to future business searches.
The platform also introduces Quick Rebook for preferred properties, business-focused filters and hotel-page information intended to surface work-ready stays more quickly. Travellers can switch between business and leisure modes without opening a separate account and continue earning eligible Hotels.com and Expedia Group loyalty benefits.
Hotels.com says the business experience is available globally from Sept. 1, 2026 through its website and app where supported. The product is aimed at self-booking travellers, a segment that often sits between traditional consumer hotel booking and managed corporate travel programs.
Taken together, the report and product launch point to a business-travel market in which practical hotel benefits, flexibility and leisure potential increasingly overlap. For Canadian travellers, the ideal work trip appears to be less about premium extras for their own sake and more about removing friction before, during and after the working day.
