Accommodation, Again? – New York Times


After two years of staying at home for many travelers, 2022 would be the New Year’s Eve. Great Travelwhen trips were ticked off bucket lists and the word “stay” was deprecated forever.

Then came spring’s soaring Covid-19 numbers, record-high gas prices, skyrocketing airfare, and the war in Ukraine. Also, the chaos of airline cancellations and delays last year continues. For some people, this has made the idea of ​​being closer to home more appealing—whether they truly stay in their own town or settle for scaled-down plans. And suddenly, American travelers are racing again to book local hotels, restaurants, and events.

Milan Jones and his girlfriend Catherine Wilson are among them. In 2020 and 2021, the couple contented themselves with day trips to nature spots, museums and spas near their Georgian home. This spring, they had planned to go to the Maldives for the first time in more than two years.

Then came a constant sense of uncertainty – what would happen if they got sick abroad, didn’t the world seem so unstable?

There were all-day flights to those distant archipelagos. The new plan: a week at a local spa resort to take a mental and physical break from the stress that has accumulated over the past two years.

“We would only decide to go on a big vacation in the future if we had some assurance that it was completely planned and safe,” said Mr Jones, 24, a content writer and editor. “We probably wouldn’t have planned anything for more than three months, and the more secluded the area we’re traveling to, the more peaceful we’ll feel on the way there.” Their priorities are: a stable region and a lesser risk of a coronavirus outbreak.

They’re not the only ones rethinking things.

April Fools’ day to work Personal finance site Bankrate found that 69 percent of American adults who say they’re taking a vacation this summer expect to change their plans due to inflation, 25 percent travel shorter distances, and 23 percent plan cheaper activities. Among people planning to take their time, accommodation was the second most popular option after going to the beach.

Different report Published by travel review site TripAdvisor in May, it found that 74 percent of American travelers were “extremely concerned” about inflation; 32 percent planned to take shorter trips this summer, and 31 percent planned to travel closer to home.

While this does not mean that travel is completely stopped, it does reflect that stays for the third consecutive summer are expected to be a key part of the mix, and “revenge journey“It’s an all-out trip to make up for lost time — it may have to wait a little longer,” said Amir Eylon, president and CEO of Longwoods International, a travel market research consultancy in Columbus, Ohio.

An optimistic May report The Mastercard Institute of Economics found that in the first quarter of 2022, Americans booked nearly 25 percent of domestic and shorter international flights above 2019 levels, even though long-haul flights are still depressed. However, the report states, “Covid-related tailwinds of pent-up demand push the travel recovery forward, while headwinds of inflation, supply chain constraints, geopolitical uncertainties and Covid infection rates are shaping 2022.”

The impact of rising prices may be patchy, the report said: “More price-sensitive travelers may stay closer to home, while less price-sensitive travelers, who are more likely to save more, have higher prices and are more eager to travel.”

For those who don’t hop on long-haul flights, the winners seem to be nearby resorts where hotels and short-term rentals book. Airbnb spokesperson Haven Thorn said Airbnb’s bookings from people staying in their area in the US rose 65 percent in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the first quarter of 2019.

“Demand for domestic leisure travel is higher than it has ever been post-pandemic,” said Emily Seltzer, Marketing Manager. River House in Odette, New Hope is a small luxury hotel in Penn. that draws most of its guests from Philadelphia and New York. “Guests jump in their cars instead of flying and start enjoying the holiday.”

President of Amanda Arling Whale Hunter Inn, Conn., a luxury hotel in downtown Mystic, said the hotel fills up quickly for the summer, much faster than in previous years. Weekends are almost completely exhausted over Labor Day, and midweek businesses are starting to pick up, he said. Ms. Arling estimates that 20 percent of bookings are locals staying in Connecticut and Rhode Island.

“Domestic travel and stays seem to satisfy the desire to explore new places,” he said.

“Staycations has opened up a new offering for the travel industry and in the future we will see an industry rise in the accommodation offer in major metropolitan areas,” said Peter Vlitas, vice president of joint relations at Internova Travel Group, which represents more. more than 70,000 travel advisors worldwide.

Some have already started. 3-star Hotels in Chicago For example, it offers up to 30 percent off hotel stays for Illinois residents.

Amy Lyle, 51, a writer, and her husband Peter Lyle, 56, a health systems consultant who lives near Atlanta, explore what their third year of stay might be. Their first planned trip to the Amalfi Coast was booked in April 2020 to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary.

Ms Lyle canceled when international travel was completely shut down at the start of the pandemic. Instead, the couple enjoyed spending time at Lake Lanier, 30 minutes north of their home.

Then, in April 2021, they tried again and booked vacations with friends to Greece, Egypt and Israel. But in March, a month before their departure, the travel agency informed them that Israel had been removed from its itinerary due to the escalation of violence there.

Lyles returned to the lake.

They have already canceled a trip to Rome and Nice this year due to concerns about the war in Ukraine. But they hope to go to Greece to celebrate their 10th anniversary later this month. If this is cancelled, they will settle in for a stay in Darien, Ga., a small coastal fishing village.

“I am the author of the ‘Book of Failures’, so the cancellation of three European holidays is the story of my life,” said Ms. Lyle.

Meaghan Thomas, 29, from Louisville, Ky., will stay after canceling a May trip to London she had planned more than a year ago.

“We were hoping by then that Covid would subside,” said Ms Thomas, who canceled the trip in April after numbers spiked in March. Instead, he’ll take a road trip to visit a friend in Asheville, NC.

Ms. Thomas owns an organic spice company and what upsets her more than canceling her UK trip is the further postponement of her planned business trip this year to meet spice farmers from Tunisia, India and Sri Lanka.

“I’m really hoping to take a late summer trip, but my confidence in flying and protection from Covid has drastically decreased,” he said.

But Brian Hoyt, head of global communications and industry relations at TripAdvisor, said that for many people, even a second vacation option is better than no vacation and they are grateful to have them leave their homes.

“Travellers overwhelmingly said they’ve been stuck in their homes for 24 months and are going out this summer,” Hoyt said, citing the report released in May.

And the stay is really not that bad. Especially when you factor in things like some travellers, seemingly ubiquitous flight delays and cancellationslong flights no longer requires a mask and the Covid regulations that come with international travel, negative test to return to the United States.

Heather Fremling, 55, a self-employed financial advisor in Merritt Island, Fla., has traveled her entire life for work, family, and pleasure. But during the pandemic, when Ms. Fremling traveled across the country to help her grandparents, she noticed how much less stress she felt while driving rather than flying.

“At a pretty bad time, I remembered the freedom and happiness of controlling your own travel,” she said.

Now, Ms. Fremling is sticking to stays, relying on resort passes and same-day hotel reservations to take advantage of luxury destinations without the stress and hassle of real travel.

49-year-old CEO Steve Schwab Kazago, One vacation rental company said it typically travels to a new location each summer, but couldn’t justify the cost this year due to rising gasoline prices and inflation. He and his family will stay for a week in Scottsdale, Arizona, where they live.

“We spent some time writing down the activities we preferred the most,” said Mr. Schwab. “Listing them and thinking about what we want to do got me more excited than I was about this one. Sometimes it just takes a little planning to get you excited about what’s going to happen.”



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