According to research released last year, the changing nature of the Business landscape means more and more companies are getting out on the road. Whilst this does present new, unique opportunities for growth for British businesses, it also presents first time business travellers with their own challenges.

Here at the Amsterdam Hotel in Earls Court, we regularly cater to business travellers visiting South West London, and asked some of our regulars for their top tips on how to make the stay more affordable, efficient, and most importantly of all, enjoyable.

Make your travel budget go further

Business travel may be on the rise, but as we’ve heard ourselves time and time again, business travel budgets are being reduced at every turn. As such, it’s perhaps never been more important than now to make your money go further when visiting London for work.

If you’ll be travelling around a lot during your stay,  you can save as much as 50% on London public transport by investing in an Oyster Travel card which can be purchased online and either delivered to your door, or even to your South West London hotel so that it’s ready and waiting for you on arrival.

Saving money isn’t the only benefit of buying an Oyster card. By getting one in advance, you’ll also be saving time that would otherwise be spent queuing up to buy tickets.

Ensure your hotel comes with suitable business facilities

As any seasoned business traveller can tell you, there’s few things worse on an important trip than staying in a hotel with poor WiFi reception, especially when you’ve got deadlines to meet and urgent emails to respond to.

To ensure you get the WiFi strength you need, look for a hotel in the area that boasts dedicated business facilities. Hotels such as these understand the importance of a good Internet connection to their business clients, and will often go above and beyond the normal poor service usually found in hotels catering mainly to leisure guests. Doing so will also ensure that you’ve got other useful features such as photocopiers, scanners, and mail forwarding services at your disposal should you need them.

Make use of co-working facilities whilst on the go

There are always those times on any business trip when you need to grab some time between meetings and simply get things done. At these times, it isn’t always practical -or even possible- to grab some desk space at the company you’re visiting, and scurrying out in search of a good coffeeshop with Wifi can take up time that can be much better spent actually getting on with work.

The good news, is that there are a number of business facilities and co-working spaces scattered throughout London, with a number of prominent based close to your hotel near Kensington and Chelsea.

Though some do require membership (and you can always sign up online in advance with a little planning), a number of the best co-working facilities in town do have pay-as-you go rates for those times when you just want to drop in, do what you have to do, and be on your way again.

Take time out to enjoy the sights

What’s that old saying about all work and no play making Jack a pretty dull boy? Your visit to South West London may be for business, but don’t forget to take some time out to unwind and take in the sights too. The beautiful and tranquil Kensington Palace Gardens are just a short walk from your hotel, whilst Earls Court Station leads to all of the major London landmark, offering the ideal opportunity to combine business with pleasure and make this one of your more enjoyable business trips.