Bringing Family Along Requires Careful Planning

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Lynnette Simpson invited her husband and their 5-year old daughter along on a business trip to Norfolk. The plan was that after Simpson's business meetings were done, the family would turn the trip into a mini-vacation.

Instead, husband Steven and daughter Julia were stuck waiting -- and waiting -- in their hotel room or the lobby. Simpson's meetings and business dinners dragged on, hours longer than scheduled.

That was two years ago and Simpson's family hasn't joined her on a business trip since. "It was a bad idea. I walked them to a shopping center on Saturday and went back to my meeting. I hardly saw them," said Simpson, of Glover Park, a writer for the Society of Government Meeting Professionals.

For frequent business travelers, it can be tempting to bring the family along in the summer, when school is out and spouses want to take some time off themselves. It seems like a bargain when the company is already picking up the bill for the upscale hotel as well as your airfare. And sometimes you can use frequent flier miles for family members to fly free.

The Travel Industry Association estimates that about 10 percent of business travelers have taken their children with them on occasion, according to a 2003 survey of 300,000 business people.

But those who have been there warn that such trips should be carefully planned lest they turn into more headache than fun.

The biggest mistake, these travelers say, is to bring a child but not another adult. Bethesda frequent flier Ivy Harper has seen unchaperoned children at hotel pools and in elevators. Striking up conversations with the kids, Harper learned that many of them were visiting the hotel with a parent who was attending a meeting. Harper said children younger than 16 should have a parent or a chaperon with them.

"It's too dangerous to leave kids alone in a hotel," she said, "especially in a strange city."

Harper has taken her two young children on business trips. But when her husband has been unable to go with them, Harper has arranged for her mother to fly in from Lincoln, Neb., and meet them at the hotel to watch the kids.