Work trip or vacation? For business owners, it’s often both

Lindsay Silberman was on her eighth flight in two weeks when the delay notification hit. Again. As founder of Hotel Lobby Candle, a fragrance brand inspired by the signature scents of five-star hotels, Silberman practically lives in airports. But instead of stress-scrolling at the gate, she headed to the Capital One Airport Lounge, ordered something good to eat, poured a glass of wine and got back to work.

“I can be a very chilled, relaxed, unbothered traveler as long as I know I have a good lounge,” Silberman said. “The peace of mind is kind of invaluable.”

It’s a scene playing out across small business America. Founders, owners and executives are blending work travel and leisure travel into something new. The industry calls it “bleisure.” And Capital One has built the Venture X Business card specifically around it.

“We’re definitely seeing a shift away from your typical pure road warrior,” said David Arons, Senior Director of Travel Product Strategy for Capital One Business. “Personal and business travel used to be separate. Now business owners have shown this growing interest in integrating personal and business travel for more work-life balance.”

Arons sees it at both ends of the org chart. Owners are extending their own trips, and many are letting employees do the same, turning a conference in Miami or a client meeting in LA into a few extra days to decompress. It has become a recruiting and retention perk as much as a financial strategy.

For Silberman, Hotel Lobby Candle’s business expenses run the gamut: Meta and Google ad spend, flights, hotel stays for photo shoots, inventory orders. All of it earns miles automatically, without optimization games.

That simplicity is by design. “Business owners shouldn’t need to spend hours researching how to redeem their rewards,” Arons said. “They shouldn’t need an Excel spreadsheet to track all the benefits they have and which are expiring.”

The Venture X Business card offers unlimited 2x miles on every purchase, with 5x on flights and 10x on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel. Miles can be redeemed to cover past travel, transferred to more than 15 loyalty partners, or converted into gift cards for employees. After a brutal stretch of red-eye flights, Silberman used her miles to book herself into business class. “I was able to redeem miles for that and not feel like I was being egregiously spending,” she said.

Arons said this reframes what a lounge delivers for a business owner: “The ROI from the lounge is the sales pitch you won because you came in fresh after a long trip. It’s the client meeting you could have despite winter delays because you were in a professional, quiet space. Or it’s coming home and being present for precious family time because you got a more restful trip.”

Capital One Airport Lounges are accessible to both primary cardholders and employee cardholders, with craft cocktails, chef-prepared food, fitness rooms and fast Wi-Fi. They also offer grab-and-go options for travelers on a tight schedule, something Silberman calls one of her favorite perks.

Silberman’s husband is also her business partner, so blending business and personal experiences is not just a travel philosophy, it is a lifestyle. A recent photo shoot at the Four Seasons Palm Beach meant the whole team stayed there and had a working lunch together. Miles earned on inventory and ad spend helped cover some of it. For a fragrance brand rooted in hotel culture, trips can include R&D.

“We get inspiration from so many of the places we go and sometimes I’ll be at a hotel and I’ll smell something or experience something that will jog something in my mind to create an idea for the brand,” she said. “So I think if there's no work involved, which is pretty rare, that would be personal but everything else is business.”

Capital One’s Premier Collection, a curated portfolio of hotels and resorts in the travel portal, was built for these moments. Cardholders get a $100 experience credit toward dining or spa, plus complimentary breakfast. Arons sees the trend continuing: 

“You’re going to continue to see people wanting more elevated stays for extending business trips, for themselves and for their employees.”

For founders like Silberman, the Venture X Business card is not about separating business from personal anymore. It is about making sure all the work pays back in ways that feel good, whether that is a lounge, a lie-flat seat or a long weekend tacked onto a client trip. After all, if you’re already traveling for work, you might as well make it worth it.

If you want to enhance your travel, learn more about the benefits of Venture X Business.