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I’m writing this as I prepare to take my final business trip of the year. It’s a time when I typically take stock of my travels and some of the trends that stick out for me personally and for the larger travel landscape.
Here are a few takeaways.
I took 14 business trips this year, which is all relative. I know so many industry folks who are on the road more than they’re home. For me, 14 trips in 2023 is far fewer than the annual number I took, say 10 years ago, but again, it’s relative. Ten years ago I didn’t have the fantastic team at Hotel News Now who are all more than capable of handling travel and who deserve to take exciting trips. I used to feel panicked about saying yes to every invitation; now I think about whether that invitation could be a great opportunity for someone else on the team.
I’ve loved returning to certain events every year where I get special invitations to speak and moderate because it means that I can build on the stories of those places and organizations that I know well already. For example, I love Latin America and the particular hotel development, branding and operations stories that bloom from that incredibly diverse region. Going back every year to SAHIC and CHICOS are great ways to watch these areas change and grow.
For next year, my goal is to try a few events that are new to me, to switch it up a little.
My friends and colleagues are used to my texts from airports exclaiming how annoyingly crowded they are, and I’ve come to realize that there simply is no off-season for travel anymore. Mind you, the data of course shows the ebbs and flows, but anyone who is regularly in airport hubs these days knows that they’re always busy.
Sure, business travel is pretty much back to normal, but what I notice is that family travel now is happening year-round. We always saw that in the Orlando airport, for example, but now I regularly see families traveling vacation-style during every month, every day of the week and in every corner of the U.S., from Cleveland to Nashville to Houston.
And they all have Clear and TSA Pre-Check. Grr.
See above about my texts from airports. But truly, we can all agree that air travel is bad and only getting worse. My layover this week was in Charlotte, and I prepped my running shoes, anti-anxiety medication and a protein snack. That airport needs mobile B12 injection services and decontamination showers.
Air travel isn’t going to get better. It’s fully in the realm of least-common-service denominator, while pricing goes higher, especially à la carte pricing for so-called amenities.
In years past you’ve heard me make sweeping resolutions about how I plan on embracing calmness and zen when I travel, to combat the stress of airports and planes. I think I can admit defeat at this point on that front! Bring on greasy fast food and inter-terminal sprints. At least I’m getting steps in.
It’s no surprise that business-transient and group travel is back and will intensify in 2024. I’ve really enjoyed seeing how this type of travel has changed, even in subtle ways. Event planners have definitely built more time into schedules for rest and connection. And at the same time, there’s so much more attention being paid to create truly valuable content that represents many facets and faces of the industry. That’s a big win.
I haven’t been to a really mega-size event since pre-pandemic, so I’ll be interested to see how those go when they’re fully back.
I wish I could report that in 2024 I finally took an extended fun-only, no-work vacation, but it didn’t happen. Maybe next year.
In the meantime, I’m happy with my status as a queen of bleisure. We as an industry talk so much about the “authentic experiences” of travel, and bleisure travel gives me so much of that. Popping into St Kilda Coffee during a break at the NYU conference; toasting friends-who-also-are-colleagues at White Limozeen on the rooftop of the Graduate Nashville; stealing away to visit my favorite D.C. bookstore while I’m in town for another event — these are all authentic travel experiences for me. I encourage you all to find those moments, because they matter.
What are your travel plans for 2024? Email me, or find me on Twitter or LinkedIn.
The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hotel News Now or CoStar Group and its affiliated companies. Bloggers published on this site are given the freedom to express views that may be controversial, but our goal is to provoke thought and constructive discussion within our reader community. Please feel free to contact an editor with any questions or concern.
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