A New Study Illuminates Americans' Holiday Travel Plans

With the holiday season inevitably comes holiday travel. Sometimes that involves spending time with family; at others, it can be a reason for a low-stress getaway at a hotel or short-term rental. But what does that look like in terms of actual travel and hospitality planning? A study commissioned by the American Hotel and Lodging Association offers some insights into what Americans’ travel plans for the upcoming holidays are and how they may differ from previous years.

For starters, 34% of those surveyed said they were “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to travel for Christmas; the figures for Thanksgiving were slightly lower — specifically, 32% of the people surveyed expected to be on the road for said holiday. As for where they might stay for those holidays, more than half of Thanksgiving and Christmas travelers planned to stay with family or friends. On the other end of the spectrum, 26% of Thanksgiving travelers and 23% of Christmas travelers expected to stay in a hotel for the holidays, while another 11% for each holiday anticipated they’d be booking a room in an Airbnb or VRBO space. The breakdowns from holiday to holiday differed, but a total of 9% of respondents for each holiday said their lodging would be on a cruise ship or in an RV.

There are plenty of reasons you might be traveling to visit family and friends for the holidays without staying with them, from space issues to allergies to something at the home in question. Those aren’t the only factors at play here, though: in terms of overall travel in the coming months, 56% of respondents said that it was “very likely” or “somewhat likely” that inflation would lower the odds of them staying in a hotel.

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According to the AHLA’s own analysis, inflation is the big issue here. The proportion of survey respondents expecting to travel for Thanksgiving or Christmas is similar to what the organization saw last year. It echoes the results of another study from earlier this year that predicted hospitality’s main growth would come from the luxury side of the industry.