Tracking Trends in the Travel and Hospitality Industry
After being deeply impacted by the pandemic, the travel & hospitality industry is currently navigating an uneven recovery. Leaders of travel and tourism brands must understand ever-evolving consumer preferences and expectations — which in turn are influenced by health concerns, logistical hurdles and new ways of working and living — in order to better serve travelers.
To help leaders stay informed about the most important post-pandemic travel trends, Morning Consult is tracking travelers’ behaviors, attitudes and expectations through a monthly survey U.S. adults.
Find a more detailed methodology for this monthly tracker below.
Key Takeaways
The holiday season is bringing about longer trips. As travelers make plans for Thanksgiving and the winter holidays, flexible work arrangements and slightly cheaper reservation rates are allowing for more extended getaways. The share of U.S. adults who said their next planned leisure trip would be two weeks or longer is now 11%, up 4 percentage points from the same time last year.
More travelers prioritize airline perks when booking as loyalty membership grows. The proportion of U.S. adults who are enrolled in an airline loyalty program has ticked up slightly year over year, and members are looking for opportunities to redeem benefits. The share who said loyalty program perks like free drinks or upgrades are a priority when booking transportation has grown 5 points since last year to 57%. Notably, the same pattern is not true for accommodations — the share who said loyalty perks are a priority when booking a hotel or vacation rental is consistent with 2022.
Alternative accommodations are appealing to more business travelers. Business travel continues to grow at a slow, steady pace, and vacation rentals are increasingly popular with those booking a work trip. Among those with plans to travel for business in the next three months, 27% said they will stay at a vacation rental, compared with 22% who said the same last year. This growth appears to be coming at the expense of chain hotels — the share who said they plan to stay at one for a work trip in the next three months is down 6 points since last year.
Leisure Travel Plans
Leisure Travel Destinations
Transportation and Accommodation for Leisure Travel
Leisure Travel Path to Purchase
Business Travel Plans
Transportation and Accommodation for Business Travel
Business Travel Path to Purchase
Booking Priorities for Transportation
Booking Priorities for Accommodation
Booking Drivers
Trust in the Travel Industry
Trust in Travel & Hospitality Brands
Loyalty Program Engagement
Points and Rewards Usage
Impact on Travel Behavior
Source of This Data
Methodology
The Travel & Hospitality Monthly Trend Tracker relies on data collected through Morning Consult’s proprietary survey research capabilities. The interviews are conducted online, and the data is weighted to approximate a representative sample of U.S. adults based on gender, educational attainment, age, race and region. The full survey has a monthly sample size of roughly 2,200 U.S. adults and an unweighted margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.
About Morning Consult
Morning Consult is a global decision intelligence company changing how modern leaders make smarter, faster, better decisions. The company pairs its proprietary high-frequency data with applied artificial intelligence to better inform decisions on what people think and how they will act. Learn more at morningconsult.com
Lindsey Roeschke is the lead travel & hospitality analyst on the Industry Intelligence team, where she conducts research, authors analyst notes and advises leaders in the travel & hospitality industry on how to apply insights to make better business decisions. Before joining Morning Consult, she served as a director of consumer and culture analysis at Gartner and spent more than a decade working at advertising agencies across three continents. Lindsey graduated from the University of Delaware with a bachelor’s degree in communications and holds a master’s degree in strategic communications from Villanova University. For speaking opportunities and booking requests, please email [email protected].
