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Canada Standard
07-06-2025
- Business
- Canada Standard
Cautious Americans delay summer travel, await better deals
WASHINGTON, D.C. Forget bucket lists; this summer, it's all about budget lists. Amid economic uncertainty and a weaker dollar, Americans are growing cautious about travel. From flights and hotels to rental cars, many are delaying bookings or scaling back plans entirely, hoping to snag better deals closer to the date. It's a trend that's starting to worry the travel industry. Hotel bookings are flat or declining, and airline reservations are down—even though airfare has become cheaper. Big travel players like Delta, Marriott, and Booking Holdings have lowered or withdrawn their 2025 forecasts as U.S. demand softens. Airbnb also flagged that more users are waiting until the last minute to confirm trips. That hesitation has left companies with less visibility on what the second half of the year will look like. Delta said in April it was too early to predict the full-year outlook given current economic uncertainty. United Airlines echoed that, warning that bookings could slow further. "It's very clear that consumers are waiting to make decisions, including for the summer," said Southwest Airlines CEO Robert Jordan at a recent industry conference. He added that while demand is stable, it's lower than expected earlier this year. According to Flighthub, summer flight bookings in the U.S. are down 10 percent compared to last year despite a 7 percent drop in average prices. Long-haul flights are seeing even steeper discounts — with tickets to destinations like Sydney, Australia down 23 percent. "You can't keep an airline seat on the shelf in a warehouse," said Steve Hafner, CEO of Kayak. "If you don't fill that seat tomorrow and the airplane flies, it's gone." Hotel bookings are showing the same pattern. "They've actually fallen off, and it gets weaker like a month out," said Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian. "By the time you get to that month, it recovers." CoStar data shows bookings in major U.S. cities are flat-to-down. Room rates are only expected to rise by 1.3 percent in 2025 — down from a 1.8 percent increase in 2024. "We're not getting that crazy pricing power we got in the early days of the recovery," said Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano. Some hotels are already sweetening deals, offering free nights or special packages to drive bookings. "That's what Jackie Lafferty is hoping for," the story notes. The Los Angeles PR director has shifted her plans from Hawaii or Florida to a California-based vacation. "By the time we broke down the cost of the flights, the hotel and the rental car, it looked expensive, it felt unreasonable," she said. Meanwhile, the weakening dollar is nudging travelers to stay closer to home. In March, a Deloitte survey showed Americans planned to increase summer travel budgets by 13 percent. But by April, they were budgeting roughly the same as last year. "The dollar is just not going as far, and I think people are starting to realize that," said Chirag Panchal, CEO of luxury travel firm Ensuite Collection. His U.S.-based clients are now favoring Canada or the Caribbean over Europe. Rachel Cabeza, a New Jersey-based actor and fitness instructor, sums it up: "We might go international at the end of the summer. If we do, it will be last-minute and spur of the moment based on cheaper flights." For now, her only confirmed trip is a local getaway to Martha's Vineyard.
Forbes
05-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Netflix Should Pick Up ‘The Wheel Of Time' After Amazon Cancels Its Best Live-Action Fantasy Show
Wheel Of Time It's been a tough run for fantasy shows lately. Ever since the massive popularity of Game Of Thrones, streaming services have been trying – and failing – to replicate that success. Amazon tried with two big-budget fantasy series: The Rings Of Power and The Wheel Of Time. The latter was killed so the former could live on, though many fans wonder why the better of the two was cancelled while the execrable Rings Of Power was given yet another season. One notable fan who publicly questioned the cancellation is Brandon Sanderson, who penned the final three books in Robert Jordan's fantasy series. 'I do think it's a shame," the author said in a comment on his YouTube channel, "as while I had my problems with the show, it had a fanbase who deserved better than a cancelation after the best season. I won't miss being largely ignored; they wanted my name on it for legitimacy, but not to involve me in any meaningful way.' I couldn't agree more. While the show made some pretty major departures from the source material, and while there is no doubt it got off to an incredibly rough start, Season 3 was easily the best of the bunch and it was clear that the creators and cast were finally finding their feet. As I noted in a previous post, the show deserves another season – warts and all – because it is currently not just the best live-action fantasy series on Prime Video, but really the only major live-action fantasy series worth watching these days. Indeed, unless the new HBO Harry Potter series can save fantasy, things are looking pretty grim for the genre. House Of The Dragon certainly isn't sitting well with fans after its disappointing second season. Television was the best hope for epic fantasy on screen, as outside of a few diamonds in the rough (Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings trilogy, for instance, or Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) there are few fantasy films worth taking seriously. As with other major cancellations of TV shows that deserved better, the hope from fans is less that Amazon will reconsider and more that some other streamer might pick up the show and give it new life. I said much the same thing when HBO canned the excellent – if incredibly bizarre – sci-fi series Raised By Wolves. Netflix has had terrible luck in its attempt to create its own Game Of Thrones, with series like Shadow & Bone not making much of a splash before their own untimely demise, and The Witcher fizzling out after a strong first season. And while it has projects in the works, like its Narnia films, there really isn't much to show for the company's investment in fantasy. A smart move would be to pick up The Wheel Of Time and give it a second chance at the biggest streamer out there. There's a baked-in audience. The cast and crew is already in place. Such a move is not unheard of, after all. Amazon saved The Expanse from an early grave, much to the delight of fans. That ended up being one of the most popular sci-fi series of all time. Netflix certainly has the cash to acquire the rights and it would earn a huge PR victory in the process. Over 124,000 fans have already signed a petition to save the show, and I suspect quite a few would happily fork over the cash for a Netflix subscription if the streamer made the move. It might be pie-in-the-sky thinking, but I genuinely believe that Wheel Of Time on Netflix makes sense, and would give the streamer the premium fantasy series its been hoping for all these years, while taking a feather from Amazon's cap in the process. That's basically two wins for the price of one. Of course, I will beat the animated fantasy series drum once more and just urge more streamers to consider animated adaptations of fantasy epics going forward. I'd love an animated Lord Of The Rings series or a show based on Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles. Hell, I'd love to see an animated reboot of The Walking Dead. For now, it's just hope. But rebellions are built on hope.
USA Today
05-06-2025
- Business
- USA Today
'Wait-and-see': Many Americans are putting off booking summer vacations. Here's why.
'Wait-and-see': Many Americans are putting off booking summer vacations. Here's why. Show Caption Hide Caption Top three travel trends for summer 2025 Airbnb shares data behind the top summer destinations and motivators for 2025. NEW YORK - This year's hottest summer travel trend? Waiting for deals. Americans are scaling back travel plans from flights to drives or waiting to book only if the price is right, a tell-tale sign of an industry slowdown that's got travel companies worried. Hotel summer bookings are either flat or falling from last year, and airline bookings are down even though airfares have also declined, as economic concerns fuel a pullback in spending. Travel companies including Delta Air Lines, Marriott International, and online travel agency Booking Holdings have withdrawn or revised their 2025 annual forecasts as U.S. demand softens. Airbnb flagged shrinking booking windows as consumers take a "wait-and-see" approach and book trips closer to their check-in dates. That has left companies with less visibility into the second half of the year. Delta said in early April it was premature to project the full year given macroeconomic uncertainty. United Airlines said there's a reasonable chance that bookings could weaken. Europe travel deals: United Airlines says now's the time to book cheap flights from Newark Wait and see "It's very clear that consumers are waiting to make decisions, including for the summer," Southwest Airlines CEO Robert Jordan said at the Bernstein Annual Strategic Decisions Conference in late May, adding that demand was stable but lower than expected in January. U.S. summer flight bookings are down 10% year-over-year, according to Flighthub, an online travel agency, even though airfares have dropped. "You can't keep an airline seat on the shelf in a warehouse. If you don't fill that seat tomorrow and the airplane flies, it's gone," Steve Hafner, CEO of Kayak, a Booking Holdings unit, told Reuters. Average summer flight prices declined 7%, with flights to long-haul destinations like Sydney, Australia 23% cheaper year-over-year, according to Kayak. Hotel bookings have "actually fallen off and it gets weaker like a month out," Hyatt Hotels CEO Mark Hoplamazian told an audience at the NYU International Hospitality Investment Forum on Tuesday. "By the time you get to that month, it recovers." Summer bookings in major U.S. cities are flat-to-down year-over-year, according to data from CoStar. Average room rates are expected to rise roughly 1.3% in 2025, down from a 1.8% increase in 2024. "We're not getting that crazy pricing power we got in the early days of the recovery," Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano said, adding that the company was still seeing revenue per available room increase. Weaker dollar Travelers may start to find deals, such as a free third night for staying two nights, as hoteliers look to fill rooms, said Jan Freitag, national director of hospitality analytics at CoStar Group. That's what Jackie Lafferty is hoping for. Her summer plans have shifted from a possible family vacation in Hawaii or Florida to her home state of California instead. "By the time we broke down the cost of the flights, the hotel and the rental car, it looked expensive, it felt unreasonable," said Lafferty, a Los Angeles-based public relations director. The dollar's weakness has driven up the cost of overseas vacations. In March, American travelers surveyed by Deloitte had planned to increase budgets for their longest summer trip by 13%. By April, Deloitte's survey found Americans planned on spending about the same as last year. "The dollar is just not going as far and I think people are starting to realize that," said Chirag Panchal, CEO of the Ensuite Collection, a Dallas luxury travel concierge. The dollar has fallen about 10% since mid-January, when it was its strongest in more than two years. Panchal's clients, who had booked big trips to Europe last year, are either staying domestic or going to closer destinations like Canada or the Caribbean. "We might go international at the end of the summer. If we do, it will be last-minute and spur of the moment based on cheaper flights," said Rachel Cabeza, 28, an actor and fitness instructor based in New Jersey. For now, her only summer plan is a getaway to Martha's Vineyard in nearby Massachusetts.
Kuwait Times
04-06-2025
- Business
- Kuwait Times
Americans slow to book summer travel amid discount hunting
NEW YORK: This year's hottest summer travel trend? Waiting for deals. Americans are scaling back travel plans from flights to drives or waiting to book only if the price is right, a tell-tale sign of an industry slowdown that's got travel companies worried. Hotel summer bookings are either flat or falling from last year, and airline bookings are down even though airfares have also declined, as economic concerns fuel a pullback in spending. Travel companies including Delta Air Lines, Marriott International, and online travel agency Booking Holdings have withdrawn or revised their 2025 annual forecasts as US demand softens. Airbnb flagged shrinking booking windows as consumers take a 'wait-and-see' approach and book trips closer to their check-in dates. That has left companies with less visibility into the second half of the year. Delta said in early April it was premature to project the full year given macroeconomic uncertainty. United Airlines said there's a reasonable chance that bookings could weaken. 'It's very clear that consumers are waiting to make decisions, including for the summer,' Southwest Airlines CEO Robert Jordan said at the Bernstein Annual Strategic Decisions Conference in late May, adding that demand was stable but lower than expected in January. US summer flight bookings are down 10 percent year-over-year, according to Flighthub, an online travel agency, even though airfares have dropped. 'You can't keep an airline seat on the shelf in a warehouse. If you don't fill that seat tomorrow and the airplane flies, it's gone,' Steve Hafner, CEO of Kayak, a Booking Holdings unit, told Reuters. Average summer flight prices declined 7 percent, with flights to long-haul destinations like Sydney, Australia 23 percent cheaper year-over-year, according to Kayak. Hotel summer bookings in major US cities are flat-to-down year-over-year, according to data from CoStar. Average room rates are expected to rise roughly 1.3 percent in 2025, down from a 1.8 percent increase in 2024. 'Travel is certainly under some pressure because people are not feeling as comfy as they once did,' said Michael Chadwick, CEO of Fiscal Wisdom Wealth Management. Weaker dollar Travelers may start to find deals, such as a free third night for staying two nights, as hoteliers look to fill rooms, said Jan Freitag, national director of hospitality analytics at CoStar Group. That's what Jackie Lafferty is hoping for. Her summer plans have shifted from a possible family vacation in Hawaii or Florida to her home state of California instead. 'By the time we broke down the cost of the flights, the hotel and the rental car, it looked expensive, it felt unreasonable,' said Lafferty, a Los Angeles-based public relations director. The dollar's weakness has driven up the cost of overseas vacations. In March, American travelers surveyed by Deloitte had planned to increase budgets for their longest summer trip by 13 percent. By April, Deloitte's survey found Americans planned on spending about the same as last year. 'The dollar is just not going as far and I think people are starting to realize that,' said Chirag Panchal, CEO of the Ensuite Collection, a Dallas luxury travel concierge. The dollar has fallen about 10 percent since mid-January, when it was its strongest in more than two years. Panchal's clients, who had booked big trips to Europe last year, are either staying domestic or going to closer destinations like Canada or the Caribbean. 'We might go international at the end of the summer. If we do, it will be last-minute and spur of the moment based on cheaper flights,' said Rachel Cabeza, 28, an actor and fitness instructor based in New Jersey. For now, her only summer plan is a getaway to Martha's Vineyard in nearby Massachusetts. — Reuters
USA Today
04-06-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Many Americans are waiting longer to book summer vacations this year. Here's why.
Many Americans are waiting longer to book summer vacations this year. Here's why. Show Caption Hide Caption Top three travel trends for summer 2025 Airbnb shares data behind the top summer destinations and motivators for 2025. NEW YORK - This year's hottest summer travel trend? Waiting for deals. Americans are scaling back travel plans from flights to drives or waiting to book only if the price is right, a tell-tale sign of an industry slowdown that's got travel companies worried. Hotel summer bookings are either flat or falling from last year, and airline bookings are down even though airfares have also declined, as economic concerns fuel a pullback in spending. Travel companies including Delta Air Lines, Marriott International, and online travel agency Booking Holdings have withdrawn or revised their 2025 annual forecasts as U.S. demand softens. Airbnb flagged shrinking booking windows as consumers take a "wait-and-see" approach and book trips closer to their check-in dates. That has left companies with less visibility into the second half of the year. Delta said in early April it was premature to project the full year given macroeconomic uncertainty. United Airlines said there's a reasonable chance that bookings could weaken. Europe travel deals: United Airlines says now's the time to book cheap flights from Newark Wait and see "It's very clear that consumers are waiting to make decisions, including for the summer," Southwest Airlines CEO Robert Jordan said at the Bernstein Annual Strategic Decisions Conference in late May, adding that demand was stable but lower than expected in January. U.S. summer flight bookings are down 10% year-over-year, according to Flighthub, an online travel agency, even though airfares have dropped. "You can't keep an airline seat on the shelf in a warehouse. If you don't fill that seat tomorrow and the airplane flies, it's gone," Steve Hafner, CEO of Kayak, a Booking Holdings unit, told Reuters. Average summer flight prices declined 7%, with flights to long-haul destinations like Sydney, Australia 23% cheaper year-over-year, according to Kayak. Hotel bookings have "actually fallen off and it gets weaker like a month out," Hyatt Hotels CEO Mark Hoplamazian told an audience at the NYU International Hospitality Investment Forum on Tuesday. "By the time you get to that month, it recovers." Summer bookings in major U.S. cities are flat-to-down year-over-year, according to data from CoStar. Average room rates are expected to rise roughly 1.3% in 2025, down from a 1.8% increase in 2024. "We're not getting that crazy pricing power we got in the early days of the recovery," Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano said, adding that the company was still seeing revenue per available room increase. Weaker dollar Travelers may start to find deals, such as a free third night for staying two nights, as hoteliers look to fill rooms, said Jan Freitag, national director of hospitality analytics at CoStar Group. That's what Jackie Lafferty is hoping for. Her summer plans have shifted from a possible family vacation in Hawaii or Florida to her home state of California instead. "By the time we broke down the cost of the flights, the hotel and the rental car, it looked expensive, it felt unreasonable," said Lafferty, a Los Angeles-based public relations director. The dollar's weakness has driven up the cost of overseas vacations. In March, American travelers surveyed by Deloitte had planned to increase budgets for their longest summer trip by 13%. By April, Deloitte's survey found Americans planned on spending about the same as last year. "The dollar is just not going as far and I think people are starting to realize that," said Chirag Panchal, CEO of the Ensuite Collection, a Dallas luxury travel concierge. The dollar has fallen about 10% since mid-January, when it was its strongest in more than two years. Panchal's clients, who had booked big trips to Europe last year, are either staying domestic or going to closer destinations like Canada or the Caribbean. "We might go international at the end of the summer. If we do, it will be last-minute and spur of the moment based on cheaper flights," said Rachel Cabeza, 28, an actor and fitness instructor based in New Jersey. For now, her only summer plan is a getaway to Martha's Vineyard in nearby Massachusetts.
