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:
- Las Vegas
- Orlando
- Hawaii
- New York City
- Washington, DC/Los Angeles
For those hankering for foreign climes, the top-5 cities ranked like this:
- London
- Rome
- Paris
- Barcelona
- 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
- Inter-Continental
- Ritz Carlton
- Four Seasons
- Fairmont/W Hotels
Upscale
- Hilton
- Marriott
- Hyatt
- Doubletree/Embassy Suites
Midscale
- Best Western
- Hampton Inn
- Ramada
- Holiday Inn
Economy
- Days Inn
- Quality Inn
- Econo-Lodge
- Travelodge
- 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!