trivago Summer Trends: Travelers Eager to Escape Despite Rising Prices

It comes as no surprise that we’re all eager to escape the cabin fever of our home cities this summer and staycations just won’t cut it anymore. So, where do we see our travelers heading to this summer, how long as they going away for and how much is it costing?

Global Trends

Top Destinations

London is the global top #1 destination this summer when considering all searches across all of our platforms! Other trending destinations that also appear on our biggest markets’ top 10 lists include Paris, New York, Las Vegas, Dubai, Istanbul and Barcelona. City travel is seeing a strong rebound this summer, with destinations focused on entertainment and beaches populating many markets’ top 10 lists. While intercontinental travel has not fully recovered, there are definitely signs of increased confidence as travelers head further away from home, for example when looking at UK travelers’s destination choices.

Price increases

This time last year the main concern on travelers minds were Covid-19 restrictions and the risk of getting infected before or during their holidays. This year, inflation and consequent rising hotel prices mean that financial concerns are trumping health and safety worries. Our recent consumer surveys in the US and UK revealed that half of the surveyed travelers are more concerned about their bookings getting cancelled and consequently losing their money than about catching Covid-19 or travel restrictions. Our global top-10 destinations list reveals an average price increase of 17% compared to 2019, with Dubai, Istanbul and Las Vegas seeing the steepest increases overall. Both Dubai and Las Vegas have appeared on several of our top-10 lists per market so far this year despite this price hike making it much more expensive to travel there.

Trends by Market

UK

Length of stay and booking windows

Brits started booking their summer trips about 5 months in advance and are booking longer stays when going abroad (they’re spending a full week Dubai for example) and for beach holidays, like in Portugal, Spain and Turkey. City trips are rather around 4 days and they also like the alternative of local long weekends for a quick escape from their home cities (eg. a 3 day trip to Edinburgh, Brighton or York).

US

Destination trends

Length of stay and booking windows

US travelers started booking their summer trips about 3 months in advance, 2 months later than UK travelers. On average they’re booking 5-day stays to their top destinations, whereas their beach trips to Mexico and Hawaii are usually a week long.

DE

Destination trends

Length of stay and booking windows

Ever the eager planners, Germans are booking their summer holidays on average 4 months in advance. These trips aren’t just for short weekends away – on average they’re actually planning on going away for a full week, especially where beach destinations are concerned. For city trips they’re rather planning extended weekend trips across Europe.

Although hotel prices and inflation are higher than it’s been in years, travelers seem determined to not let this put a damper on their summer plans as many booked their trips a month in advance and are eager for an escape after two years of uncertainty. While city trips are making a comeback and dominate many of our top-10 lists, many travelers are also planning to spend their well-earned holidays at the beach with relaxation at the top of their mind, as our consumer surveys also confirmed earlier this year. Many are willing to pay more than they were before the pandemic, but will this remain true as inflation continues to rise? That remains to be seen. Wherever you’re headed this summer season, we hope this will be your best one yet!

Methodologies