Dive Brief:

• A new Morning Consult report found consumers’ intent to travel increased throughout 2021 and steadied in 2022. 
• Consumers’ willingness to prioritize travel persists even as costs rise, with travelers less likely to reschedule or cancel a trip compared to July of last year, according to Morning Consult’s the State of Travel and Hospitality report. 
• In lieu of outright cancelling a trip, travelers are finding ways to cut costs where possible, including booking accommodations farther in advance or staying at a vacation rental versus a chain hotel. However, travelers are more willing to pay extra for a hotel booking that offers free cancellation.

Dive Insight:

To evade last-minute price increases, some travelers are searching for and booking accommodations farther in advance. Business intelligence company Morning Consult found that the share of travelers who said they book accommodations within three months of traveling is down 3 percentage points compared to October 2021. 

Similarly, an Expedia Group report found that travel search windows are lengthening, with the number of travelers booking three- to six-months out increasing 60% from the fourth quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2023.

According to the Morning Consult report, travelers also are increasingly looking to book vacation rentals over chain hotels. Although 45% of consumers with travel plans in the next three months still say they expect to stay at a chain hotel, the share of travelers planning to stay at one has lowered 11 percentage points year over year. Meanwhile, the share of travelers with travel plans in the next three months who plan to rent a house or apartment is up 4 percentage points over the same period. 

However, travelers are willing to pay more for flexible booking options. The Morning Consult report found more than half of those surveyed are willing to pay extra for a hotel that offers free cancellation, and nearly 1 in 5 said they’d pay $50 or more. 

Gen Z adults are more willing than older travelers to pay extra for a hotel with free cancellation, with 29% saying they’d pay $50 or more, compared to 28% of millennials, 15% of Gen Xers and 9% of baby boomers. 

The Morning Consult report features research conducted from October 2021 to March 2023 among roughly 2,200 U.S. adults per month and data from surveys conducted between January 2021 and February 2023 among 14,000 adults globally.