The Warc Blog

For those you who may have missed it, summer officially started last week, and that means vacations for most people. Vacations, which used to be regarded as a luxury, have become a necessity in today's world. Nearly 95% of folks we polled in our Customer Loyalty Engagement Index indicated they had no intentions of cutting back on their vacations.

This year, the top-5 U.S. destinations turned out to be the usual suspects:

1. Las Vegas
2. Orlando
3. Hawaii
4. New York City
5. Washington, DC/Los Angeles

For those hankering for foreign climes, the top-5 cities ranked like this:

1. London
2. Rome
3. Paris
4. Barcelona
5. Dublin/Prague

That consumers are not giving up travel does not mean that they've stopped looking for good deals. So when it came to "value" here's the top-5 rankings of the four categories of hotels we track:

Luxury

1. Inter-Continental
2. Ritz Carlton
3. Four Seasons
4. Fairmont/W Hotels

Upscale

1. Hilton
2. Marriott
3. Hyatt
4. Doubletree/Embassy Suites

Midscale

1. Best Western
2. Hampton Inn
3. Ramada
4. Holiday Inn

Economy

1. Days Inn
2. Quality Inn
3. Econo-Lodge
4. Travelodge
5. Motel 6

George Bernard Shaw wrote, "The great advantage of a hotel is that it's a good refuge from home life." But the need to relax, recreate, and re-charge is taking precedence no matter what the economy or the cost of gasoline and airline baggage fees.

So for most Americans, another thought is true: a vacation is what you take when you can't take what you've been taking anymore!