Travel agencies report a tale of two booking patterns

Travel Weekly

6 hours ago

This year has been a tale of two types of bookings: very close in and very far out, a dichotomy that has travel advisors scrambling to meet last-minute requests while scratching their heads as to what might come next.
The trend was a predominant topic on a panel at American Marketing Group's Travel Market 2025, held June 4 to 7 in Orlando.
Several things are happening at once, said panelist Jennifer Doncsecz, president of Travelsavers affiliate VIP Vacations in Bethlehem, Pa. "We're insanely busy," she said -- but not with planning her agency's hallmark destination weddings and honeymoons business, which has come to a virtual standstill. The demand has instead come from servicing luxury travelers, especially last-minute ones.
For example, she got an inquiry this month from a client who wanted to bring three travelers to Pamplona, Spain, for six nights, flying in business class, for the running of the bulls in July.
"Who does that in the middle of June?" she said. "People who have money, and they're doing it -- and that just makes us busy."
It's far from an isolated incident. Doncsecz said it happens nearly every week, leading to some frantic, last-minute work but pushing VIP Vacations' revenue up compared with last year.
Jana Elias, owner of Tootles and Nibs Travel in Harvest, Ala., is also seeing close-in bookings, mainly from clients who are concerned about uncertainty surrounding job security and the economy.
"They're waiting to book last-minute because they don't want to commit to something far out," Elias said.
She's also seen a lot of wavering from clients who might be affected by layoffs and restructuring in the federal government. NoteElias' business is down about 5% this year, but mostly due to selling high-priced itineraries from new products last year. Her booking volume is on par.
Nicole Mazza, AMG's chief marketing officer, said members are seeing close-in bookings and much further-out ones, even to the holiday season of 2026. It's adding up to what she called a "volatile environment."
Executives and advisors were also talking about the booking dichotomy at the Travel Leaders Network Edge conference, held at Caesars Palace Las Vegas Hotel and Casino from June 9 to 12.
"It's definitely been an interesting year," said Ian Cambata, CEO of TL365 in Wheeling, Ill. January was "massively up," followed by slower growth in February and March and a dip around Easter. Since then, growth has been steady.
Like other agencies, TL365 is serving more urgent requests of two to four weeks out and further. (The first question to ask, said Cambata, is whether it's even possible to accommodate the client.)
"If it's peak, if it's a holiday, if it's an event, that also has to get prioritized now, because we're seeing inventory book out pretty well in advance for big-ticket items," he said.
Travel Leaders Network president John Lovell theorized that far-out bookers are, perhaps, those who were shut out of travel in late 2023 or early 2024 due to demand.
"Now, they're not chancing it," he said. "They are willing to put down their money to hold space, to hold a cruise, hold a vacation, whatever it is, and to plan for the future. It's not an immediate look right now. That long tail, that accelerated booking curve, is definitely moving out further and further."
As a result, 2026 is "shaping up extremely well," Lovell said.
This year, while Lovell described some "choppiness," his network has returned to "much more of that stabilized business growth that is traditional in our business." As of the end of April, TLN revenue was up 12%, a figure Lovell expected to climb based on preliminary May numbers.
Mazza said that AMG saw a dip in business toward the end of the first quarter but that it quickly recovered. She attributed it to factors like geopolitical issues and unstable stock markets. "All of our businesses are affected by that," she said.
Some segments of travel performed better than others, Mazza said, such as river cruising and luxury. Despite that Q1 slowdown, all segments are up compared with last year, some by double digits. And 2024 was a particularly good year.
"When we compare our revenue year on year, we are still seeing growth," she said. "It might be small, single-digit growth, but it's growth, which is great, especially given the environment we're currently in today. We're in a volatile environment."
That volatility is likely to continue, she said. "Hopefully," Mazza added, "we'll start to get to whatever our new normal is coming into 2026."
Jennifer Doncsecz of VIP Vacations said many luxury travelers are booking last-minute trips. Photo Credit: Jamie Biesiada
Doncsecz is grateful for the extra work she is getting from luxury clients, because she believes the honeymoon and wedding market will continue to suffer.
That segment, she said, has slowed significantly because after multiple Covid-related rebookings, 2022 and 2023 were "off the charts" with destination weddings and honeymooners. Now, the sector is catching up to the blip caused by people dating less during the pandemic. The typical timeline of dating to marriage takes several years, she said, meaning there's a standstill for now. Beyond that, couples are also interested in buying homes in a challenging real estate market instead of planning their weddings.
Still, she remains optimistic. At the end of January, she would have likely said the year holds "doom and gloom." But 2025 saw the busiest May ever for VIP Vacations, giving her hope.
Elias had similar observations for Tootles and Nibs Travel.
"In a normal year, I would have more bookings for the [rest of the year], but because we're seeing so many last-minute bookings, my revenue is growing consistently for this year," she said. "It's growing but at a slower pace for 2026. If people continue to book last-minute like this, it's almost impossible to predict where we will be next year."