Combining business with 'mini vacations'.

When corporate America's troops hit the road with laptop computers and cellular phones, they also may be "packing" their suntan lotion and Frisbees -- and the kids, too.

More and more, people are combining pleasure with business when traveling on business. In fact, according to the Yesawich, Pepperdine & Brown/Yankelovich Partners National Business Travel Monitor poll, seven out of 10 take time for leisure activities in combination with a business trip.

Not only are these travelers mixing pleasure with business, they are bringing their families along for "mini vacations," says Dennis Marzella, senior vice president of research and strategic marketing for Yesawich, Pepperdine & Brown, Orlando, Fla. "It's a good way to get an economical vacation. People want to get the most bang for their buck. By coupling leisure with business, they are able to take some of the stress out of business travel, oftentimes on the company's nickel."

However, he maintains, some hotels are missing opportunities to sell extra nights because they fail to focus any marketing efforts towards this statistically significant group. "I've noticed many hotels have a certain `Sunday to Thursday' mentality. They consider business travelers as guests who are only interested in staying as long as they have business to do, when the hotels should be realizing...