Written by: Sian Gunney, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Let’s talk about the hottest new travel trend bleisure, and its positive impact on workforce wellbeing and creativity.
It used to be just for business coaches, tech giants, and creative digital marketers, but now it’s opening up for workers and entrepreneurs alike, and the good news is bosses are getting behind it.
With more and more people retraining and going to work for themselves to get a better work/life balance, managing directors everywhere are looking to add value to their employees' working lives.
Changes to the way we work, live, and relax have informed many managing director’s approaches to a brave new world of work operations. Working from home has proven that remote working means getting a lot more done without the overheads.
Globally we have all proven we can work remotely with increased productivity and wellbeing, which now means we can work from anywhere in the world, a fact not new news to the consultancy and coaching world.
In terms of travel, it is more sustainable and rewarding for travel guests to look at longer stays. The blending of business and leisure from meetings to remote working means a new phase of travel called bleisure, and bleisure travelers are already hunting for perfect hotels to serve their needs.
Global business travel statistics from 2018 show that during that year:
£941,447,150,000.00 was spent on business travel worldwide.
Globally, annual business travel costs are expected to amount to £1,203,345,000,000.00 by 2022.
Spending on business trips abroad in 2019 was £4.7 billion compared to £4.4 billion on domestic trips.
Almost 10% of business trips can be categorized as “bleisure” trips.
Although bleisure is about to have a monumental rise, only 60% of companies globally actually have a corporate travel policy.
What is the value of bleisure?
The best ideas come to us when we are on holiday, and there’s a reason for this. Many leaders say it’s having the mind-space without the clutter and distractions of everyday life. Thus allowing us all to access more cognitive bandwidth when we are on holiday. Vacations provide optimum conditions for bliss and joy, and in turn, this stimulates creative and innovative thoughts.
For years the hustle burnout culture had youngsters working all hours with no boundaries between work and play. We know that this can present itself in illness later in life, impacting the neurology and the endocrine system advancements in neuroimmunology show the negative impact of sustained daily stress. This always ON, urgency culture is catastrophic to future success and wellbeing. Finally, leaders are understanding this after years of creating disengaged workforces. Now they are looking at how they can create a workplace where people are happy, enthused, and go the extra mile.
Tips from the top
The best in business understand boundaries and balance make us masterful. Seth Godin is a multi-millionaire entrepreneur, teacher, and author who writes about marketing, tribes, and respect. He eliminates meetings and is highly selective on what and who he keeps close to. He says just because it’s important to you doesn’t mean it should be on my agenda. Meetings are a festival to avoid responsibility. Most of this world’s successful leaders say no to far more than they say yes to. They avoid reactive communications and only respond to what is necessary and best for their business.
The most successful leaders delegate and focus on the top 25% of what needs to be done. They live more than they work and, in doing so, create masterpieces and leave legacies. Rise and rest routines are fundamental, along with a change in the horizon that brings fresh challenges and tranquillity in equal measure.
Who books a hotel takeover?
In 2021 and 2022, many people will be looking to do this to reunite with friends and family worldwide and find a safe space in the sun.
However, there’s a new wave of Hotel Takeover groups, and these come right from the top tiers of business success. They are called Mastermind retreats, and Yes! They are all doing it.
Oprah Winfrey, Mandela, Tony Robbins, and Richard Branson have all attributed their ultimate success to being in a mastermind group!
Popular mastermind groups include Natalie Macneil running The Collective with Richard Branson on Necker Island, Jenna Kutcher from Waco to Wisconsin. Rachel Hollis has large audiences and memberships that help females rise.
It all starts with bringing people together with aligned values. These are called masterminds which are groups where entrepreneurs discuss business. They can be in person, on social media, video conferences, or other mediums. While some use them to close deals or open up new opportunities, for other people, masterminds are simply an organized way to meet like-minded high achievers.
Mastermind retreats bring together a collective of great (master) minds together. These retreats seek to revive, rediscover and reimagine the next level up for you and your business. You get to bounce ideas around a group of high-level success entrepreneurs and troubleshoot your challenges in a respectful, safe space.
There are also healing, and awakening retreats very popular with the same leaders of commerce and often many celebrities too. These are provided by prestigious thought leaders such as Jake Woodward spiritual healing and Dr. Nicole Pera, The Holistic Psychologist with the self-healers circle.
If you are looking for the perfect Mastermind retreat location with unspoiled and luxury surroundings where the world cannot intrude, with the ability to work on the wifi but also quiet zones where you can literally unplug. Somewhere you can live like a local and have micro boutique hotel accommodation that feels more like a home away from home than a hotel room, this is the perfect place for you.
Welcome to The Great House, Antigua
A breath-taking private paradise, treasured for its rural grace and unspoiled beauty
This micro-boutique hotel offers a heavenly escape with 26 sweeping acres of rural tropical Caribbean gardens, including a stunning pool and spa facilities. The Great House Antigua feels like the promised land. It is one of the most atmospheric hotels in the Caribbean, overlooking its own bay, enabling the famous trade winds to cool the house. A perfect shell of the sugar mill stands over the meditation platform, overlooking the crystal Caribbean waters.
Gabriella and Isabella Howell have opened up their late grandmothers home, a stunning 350-year-old sugar mill mansion with the choice to book any of the 8 suites, either in the historic main house with glass chandeliers and four-poster mahogany beds or in the new garden suite cottages fitted with his and her marble showers and walk-in wardrobes. With discounts for hotel take-over’s it is the perfect location to book out for a group retreat, to unwind.
The hotel is family-owned and ‘bubble boutique’ in terms of scale, so COVID protection is easier to implement and sustain. This is perfect for high-tier business leaders and coaches that value history and culture. The Great House Antigua attracts celebrities and thought leaders of notoriety. It is of interest for elite mastermind retreats and business book-outs for companies with exceptional workforce culture looking for a venue to accommodate teams of up to 16.
You arrive as guests, but you leave as family. All of your needs and personal requests are catered for with precision and grace by the wonderful team. This personalized service is of the highest standard and is often not available with larger hotel groups.
Here is an introduction video, so you experience The Great House visually.
What retreats are available? The Great House already.
Wellness Retreat
Painters Retreat
Girls Getaway
Couples Retreat
Click to view this gorgeous page outlining what each retreat can offer you.
Gabriella and Isabella Howell, owners of The Great House, Antigua, will work with you to ensure that they serve your needs and create the perfect Mastermind retreat with you.
Your mastermind retreat could include as many exercise classes as you’d like. The Great House Antigua can also arrange fitness instructors to help you or to include a Soca dance class - an Antiguan special. During your time at the hotel, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and soft drinks are included. They can personalize these menus to suit you and your guest’s individual needs. They have yoga mats, dumbbells, kettlebells, skipping ropes, resistance bands, etc. Shuttles to the gorgeous beach nearby are also included, and they offer hikes through the island as part of the package by the team’s naturalist. Pricing
Pricing low season: (4 May - 8 November) Inclusive of tax and service charge (24%) Closeout full board: US $5,504
Closeout without meals: US$4,619
Pricing high season: (9 November 3 May)
Inclusive of tax and service charge (24%)
Closeout full board: US$6,096
Closeout without meals: US$5,211
Book from May 2021 until summer 2021 for a 35% discount on your retreat!
Ask for Gabriella or Isabella Howell if you look to book your Mastermind retreat or indeed your bleisure stay!
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Sian Gunney, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Sian Gunney is a Success Strategist listed on Yahoo Finance in the Top 10 Social Media experts to watch in 2021. Also listed as 48 in the top 100 influencers worldwide on digital marketing by Onalytica. Sian has won social media marketing awards for innovation and results for brand campaigns such as Chrysler and Dominos Pizza.
As a dedicated, versatile creator, Sian designs and executes meaningful strategies bridging content and commerce across platforms and people. Sian specializes in strategy that focuses on Brand, Digital Marketing, and PR.
Sian is a disruptor. She works with clients to lead change, not be led, supporting them to self-disrupt, refocus, and reposition to stay ahead.
Over a decade of working with some of the biggest brands from Britvic, Virgin Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn to building brands such as Skinade, Biocol Labs and working with celebrities from celebrity gifting to high tier personal brand management to business development with their commercial entities from Karren Brady CBE to Joe Calzaghe MBE, CBE
Everyone that comes to Sian is looking for some kind of transformation, and she excels with this, as you can see from her case studies from over the last 15 years in business.
Sian is highly selective and only works with those she truly believes in and who reciprocate that belief as the high-quality results in business come from high-quality relationships.
None of us are here by accident. We all have a unique purpose and value. Sian's path is to help others to level up and realize their untapped potential. Sian is innately in tune both spiritually and professionally, and she operates between the worlds of art with creativity and science with strategy. With increased visibility and support comes sovereign opportunities for Sian's clients and the people she holds close.
Sian's adventurous soul is willing to suspend fear and move intentionally towards her goals by helping others build their dreams. Sian loves opening doors for others.
