WHY IT RATES: Many people in the travel and tourism industry have been impacted by Morris Silver’s expertise.—Donald Wood, Breaking News Senior Writer.
04.10.2023 - 23:17 / cntraveler.com / Lake Como
If you've traveled at all in the past year or so, you've likely noticed a fascinating collective energy moving through airports, on board trains, and across the ocean: excited, antsy, even a little bit frenzied. The anxious rebound from the travel restrictions of the pandemic were obvious everywhere you looked. Social media feeds were bursting with photographs of everyone in some faraway destination (most often Positano or Lake Como). In nearly every major publication, there were trend pieces about “revenge travel.” Even last year’s aviation fiascos like the meltdowns at Southwest Airlines and Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport served to underscore the point: Everyone is traveling again.
All of the above was verified by the results of Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards 2023, with one pleasant caveat: As frantic as our traveling in the past year appeared to be, most trips were actually about leisure, taking our time, finding relaxation, and using our vacation days. And bucket-list trips. A lot of you went on bucket-list trips. (What do you know that we don’t?)
For more of the highlights and takeaways from this year’s survey, read on. May they invite you to reflect on your own year in travel—and get excited for what’s to come next.
After so many years defined by constraints and travel limitations, everyone had many different reasons over the past year to book a trip: about 69% of readers said they went to new-to-them places, and 47% said they returned to a familiar or favorite destination; 61% said they traveled internationally, and 39% said they took local trips. About 43% of respondents said they took trips to see family, but also—trend alert!—23% said they took solo trips, up from 14% in our 2021 survey, making good on their promises to hit the road on their own.
Speaking of rest, 75% of survey respondents used all of their vacation days in 2022. (Most Americans don't take enough of their vacation days, so this is nice to see.) Among our readers, 70% said they took trips with the goals of relaxation in mind; 28% specified that wellness was part of their travel intentions.
At the same time, many travelers hit the road (or the air, or sea) to celebrate the excitement of life. Adventure travel was big with 63% of our readers; 38% went on trips to commemorate birthdays, honeymoons, and other celebrations; and group trips among friends took up 38% of your travel. It’s true—there’s nothing like the euphoria of actually getting the entire group chat to Tuscany.
In 2022, survey respondents said that they wanted to maximize their future trips, whether by going to places they’d never been before or taking a long, long, long trip. According to this year’s results, that’s exactly what they did. Nearly two in
WHY IT RATES: Many people in the travel and tourism industry have been impacted by Morris Silver’s expertise.—Donald Wood, Breaking News Senior Writer.
Across our 25 days, we stayed in seven different places, which let us see the best of Venice, the Dolomites, Lake Como, Cinque Terre, Florence, Rome, and the Amalfi Coast.
The talk of last week in Hotel World was Choice Hotels‘ hostile buyout offer for Wyndham, an offer Wyndham quickly rejected.
The global travel industry is on an upswing, with all regions registering growth over the previous month, according to the Skift Travel Health Index: September 2023 Highlights. The Skift Travel Health Index stands at 106, three points higher than August 2023 – a new record high.
Choice Hotels dropped a bombshell earlier this week when it went public with a hostile takeover bid for Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. Clearly Choice likes the deal while Wyndham thinks it can do better on its own (or with someone else).
This week Choice Hotels publicly offered to acquire Wyndham Hotels & Resorts following months of private discussions between the two companies. This was pretty exciting in itself, with the last major M&A deal in the hotel industry being the Starwood-Marriott merger in 2015. However, a few days later, more news broke that Wyndham rejected Choice’s offer and saw its stock being halted on the NYSE.
Good morning from Skift. It’s Wednesday, October 18. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
Even with traffic on the 405, it probably would have taken at most three hours for Victoria Pardo Uzitas to drive from her home in San Diego to SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles to see a performance of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. Instead, she and her teenage daughter crossed the border to Tijuana, flew to Mexico City, enjoyed classic tacos al pastor and churros, saw a Frida Kahlo masterpiece at the Museo de Arte Moderno, and yes, saw Taylor Swift.
Choice Hotels launched a bid Tuesday to acquire Wyndham Hotels & Resorts for $90 a share – a hostile offer that would create the largest budget hotel franchise in North America. Wyndham has rejected Choice’s bid.
Choice Hotels outlined its new proposal to acquire Wyndham Hotels and Resorts for around $7.8 billion in cash and stock.
The event included more than 100 top travel advisors and suppliers. (Photo Credit: Travel ALLIES Society)
Founded in 1939, Choice Hotels International has evolved from a small chain of roadside hotels to one of the world’s largest hotel franchisors. Tracing its roots to its original name, Quality Courts United, Choice has established itself as a prominent player through acquisitions and is looking to get bigger with its latest bid for Wyndham Hotels.