Tracking Trends in the Travel & Hospitality Industry
Updated: Jan. 5, 2023 | By Lindsey Roeschke
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 tracks travelers’ behaviors, attitudes and expectations through a monthly survey of roughly 2,200 U.S. adults. We’ll be updating this page with new data and analysis each month. Sign up for alerts below.
The methodology for the tracker is included at the bottom of this page.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The new year inspires travelers to revisit their bucket lists. With holiday travel in the rearview mirror, people are looking forward to fulfilling personal goals in 2023. The share of U.S. adults who said they will be traveling for leisure because they want to visit a bucket list location ticked up 4 percentage points between November and December.
Despite inflation, travelers are increasingly willing to pay for flexibility. Perhaps the uncertainty of winter weather is reminding travelers that plans can — and do — change, because consumers’ willingness to pay a premium for a flexible fare is steadily climbing. This is even true for high dollar amounts: 11% of U.S. adults said they were open to paying $100 or more extra for airfare that is cancelable, and 10% said the same for hotels, up from 7% and 6%, respectively, in March.
Vacation rentals are stealing market share from chain hotels. After a post-summer decline, the share of people saying they’ll stay at a vacation rental on a leisure trip in the next three months is rising again: 20% of those with leisure travel plans said they’d book a short-term rental, up from 16% in October. At the same time, the share who say they’ll stay in a chain hotel declined to 47% in December — notably, the lowest mark since we started collecting data in November 2021.
Share of U.S. adults who have done the following in the past month:
SUBSCRIBE
Get our best data and insights delivered to your inbox
LEISURE TRAVEL
Respondents were asked when they anticipate taking their next leisure trip
Travelers were asked how and where they would travel for leisure in the next 12 months
Respondents were asked what transportation and accommodation options they expect to use during leisure trips in the next three months
BUSINESS TRAVEL
Respondents were asked when they anticipate taking their next business trip
Respondents were asked what transportation and accommodation options they expect to use during business trips in the next three months
BOOKING TRENDS
Share of respondents who identified the following as top priorities when booking transportation:
Share of respondents who identified the following as top priorities when booking accommodation:
Travelers were asked what factors influenced their upcoming leisure trip plans
TRUST AND ENGAGEMENT
Share of respondents who trust the following industries to do what is right:
Share of respondents who trust the following types of travel companies:
Shares of respondents who are members of a travel loyalty/rewards program
PANDEMIC SAFETY MEASURES
Respondents were asked whether the following factors made them more or less willing to travel domestically compared with before the pandemic:
Share of respondents who said travel brands should “definitely” or “probably” do the following:
RELATED
ABOUT
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 plus or minus 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
About the author
Lindsey Roeschke is the travel and hospitality analyst at global intelligence company Morning Consult, where she leads the company’s travel analysis to deliver real time insights for leaders in the sector.
Special thanks to Matthew Howe, senior manager of travel intelligence at Morning Consult, for his assistance with this project.
Email press@morningconsult.com to speak with a member of the Morning Consult team.