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Short-Term Rentals: A category at a crossroads
Once the rising star of post-pandemic travel, short-term rentals now face a new challenge: perception. As guest expectations shift and younger travelers grow wary, STRs must confront a reputation problem that could stall future growth. Our latest preview unpacks what today’s travelers really think—and why the next wave of bookings may depend more on trust than tech.
Phocuswright's Travel Innovation and Technology Trends 2025
The most significant innovation trends in travel technology and distribution for 2025 and beyond.
5 key takeaways on how GenAI is impacting company operations
Valuable perspective as to why GenAI and autonomous agents are poised this year to begin revolutionizing how travel companies operate.
The path to growing alternative revenue for STRs
Needs for additional tools and money-making opportunities notwithstanding, operators are working to overcome their challenges one hurdle at a time. More time and money may be required to build out operational best practices. In the meantime, market forces may weed out the operators who fail to establish the right mix of insourcing and outsourcing services in a way that maximizes earnings and provides guests and homeowner clients with the best experience.
OTAs take the lead in superapp innovation as India’s travel market reaches new heights
To maintain their competitive edge against supplier-led direct distribution and rivals, Indian OTAs are diligently implementing strategic initiatives. These include offering personalized travel experiences; integrating AI-driven technologies; launching loyalty programs; expanding partnerships with local and international service providers; and targeting customers in tier-2 and tier-3 cities to broaden their reach. Furthermore, an intriguing trend is unfolding in the market: Many OTAs are striving...
Short-term rentals segment: Living on an arc of its own
The U.S. short-term rental market has undergone a dramatic transformation, shifting from a pandemic-driven boom to an increasingly competitive and complex landscape. With supply growth outpacing demand and consumer preferences evolving, hosts and property managers must navigate rising costs, regulatory uncertainty, and heightened competition from hotels and international rentals. Profit-oriented hosts are proving more resilient, while those with passive management styles face mounting challenges....
Travel Again Podcast - Spotlight Edition with Phocuswright's Mike Coletta
Phocuswright and Travel Again Advisory are partners in delivering strategic insights and expert consulting to travel’s smartest executives. In this episode, the two feature a dive deep into the latest impacts of GenAI on the travel industry, including how it will converge with digital identity.
U.S. travel agency market: A resilient and thriving segment
While the pace of growth is expected to moderate, U.S. travel agency sales are projected to rise another 9% in both 2024 and 2025, with leisure agencies leading the way and corporate travel agencies regaining ground. And despite concerns over rising travel costs and airfares, 72% of travel advisors have a positive outlook on the future. With a growing market share, a resurgence in corporate travel, and a strong foothold in high-value segments, the U.S. travel agency market is well-positioned for...
5 key projections of APAC travel’s future
Here are 5 critical APAC travel market projections you need to know.
Northeast Asia will smash through another barrier by 2026
Northeast Asia's booking pathway is online. New demand, demographic and strategic dynamics will further reshape travel across the decade as the slump-to-recovery period will transform into stepped growth of overall gross bookings through 2027. The mindset shift towards e-commerce and app-enabled travel and lifestyle services is irreversible and is being reinforced by new smart-tech and AI travel booking tools, leading to projections of $30 billion in online gross bookings by 2026.
70% of U.S. travelers stayed in hotel, 24% in STR
When it comes to lodging trends in the U.S., there’s a clear winner: hotels. Travelers stay at hotels more than any other lodging type while on vacation. They're most popular among 35 years old or older, with Mid- and upscale being preferred by most. However, short-term rentals (STRs) are particularly popular among younger travelers, with many seeing the benefits of space, privacy and flexibility that STRs have to offer.
5 ways autonomous AI agents will redefine travel
Many people will continue booking travel in the ways they’re used to – on websites and apps or calling – for a long time. But especially for simpler trips, if they’re using GenAI to plan their trip and can get live prices and booking capabilities right inside that environment, a significant number of people will be interested in doing so. This is why our main trend for 2025 is the significant shift of travel intent into generative chat and search environments, with the anticipation that a...
30 data-driven insights to make your organization smarter
Is your team searching for data-driven insights to identify emerging trends and seize new opportunities faster? Get straight to the data projections, consumer profiles and reporting of GenAI that are filling reports and analyses.
The future of the TMC
In today’s competitive market for business travel services, the traditional travel management company (TMC) model (referring to travel agencies that focus on the managed corporate travel segment) is being challenged.
A look at how U.S. travelers plan and book lodging
Travelers booking lodging reached a new high in the 12 months ending July 2024, up slightly from the previous year. Direct and indirect methods are at parity with each other when booking, but OTAs are leveraged by more travelers (39%), particularly those under 55. Travelers over 55 still have a strong preference for booking on supplier sites.
Southeast Asia prides itself on quick adoption of nascent technologies
In Southeast Asia, widespread use of mobile apps and, increasingly Generative AI tools, influences the ways young people access and consume travel content, and the speed with which they make booking decisions. Travel suppliers and intermediaries know on-demand bookers expect high-quality service, including fast, touchless transactions using the same e-payment formats they use daily online and offline. The steep upward trajectory of online penetration, which is set to rise from 62% in 2023 to 74%...
5 key findings on how American travelers shop and book air
Nearly two thirds (65%) of travelers took a flight in the past 12 months, down only slightly from the prior year (68%). Phocuswright’s recently published report U.S Consumer Travel 2024: Air provides a range of data and analysis on the American consumer’s air travel behaviors and preferences, and what these trends look like over time.
$1.2T in online bookings by end of 2026
It’s gearing up to be a slow climb to new heights in 2025.
4 ways GenAI will impact travel startups
Because GenAI has the potential to be so disruptive in the coming years, planning is becoming increasingly difficult. This creates an abundance of both uncertainty and, in tandem, opportunity.
10 insights that should be on your radar in 2025
Phocuswright just published Travel Forward: Data, Insights and Trends for 2025, a resource (available to everyone) which provides broadscale insights into the $1.61 trillion global travel market, offering essential data for understanding industry trends and growth. Featuring highlights by segment, channel, consumer behavior metrics and more, this report equips industry stakeholders with the key data and trends needed to navigate the evolving travel landscape. Looking ahead, here are 10 key...
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Travel Forward: Data, Insights and Trends for 2025
Phocuswright's Travel Forward: Data, Insights and Trends for 2025 provides broadscale insights into the $1.61 trillion global travel market, offering essential data for understanding industry trends and growth.
A new era for travel startup investing
Travel startups have weathered a drastic funding downturn over the past 2+ years, but recovery is on the horizon. All signs point to a rebooting of the venture capital cycle. Yet the future may look nothing like the past.
5 ways travelers are using GenAI
With rapid advances in generative AI, virtual reality and a range of other high-tech tools, travelers can increasingly leverage these technologies in their trip planning and incorporate them into their actual travel experiences. As these tools move into the mainstream, it is critical to understand which travelers are embracing these technologies, and how consumers’ attitudes and behavior regarding technology continue to evolve.
Use of tech in trip-planning is not one-size-fits-all
Travelers’ embrace of technology continues to evolve. Digital interactions, preferences for apps and what consumers are looking for differ for each part of the travel journey. And most travelers vary their approach to planning each trip online. But as technologies develop, are you understanding your customers’’ attitudes and perceptions about the tools they are using?
Is the future of travel regulation digital and green?
Navigating a patchwork of regulations across borders is a major challenge for travel businesses. Balancing economic growth with environmental and social responsibility further complicates the picture. However, growing awareness of the importance of sustainability and consumer protections is driving a shift toward more robust and level regulation.
When travelers want digital vs. human interaction
While digital interactions are preferred by more for directions, checking in, and making changes to bookings/reservations, travelers prefer their fellow humans for tours, customer support and ordering in restaurants. Travel companies should note the strong continued interest in human customer service, despite the rise in use of artificial intelligence chatbots.
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Are travelers early adopters?
The use of technology in the trip-planning path is notone-size-fits-all; for most, there is variation with each trip.
Phocuswright Research Roundup 3Q24
It was another packed quarter for Phocuswright analysts, with 20+ publications spanning technology trends, global travel market sizing, social creator and influencer analysis and more.
Creators and conversion
The rate of influencer collaborations affecting converters is a prime indicator that creator partnerships can be extremely effective, but brands must still walk a fine line with their choices of when to partner and with whom. Among followers of creators, almost half (49%) say they'll trust an account less if they have a lot of brand collaborations or ads. Even the most successful influencers can harm their personal brand if they overload their content with partnerships and ads. Brands must...
The cost of payments in the travel industry
Forty percent of North American respondents and 32% of European respondents pay between 3-3.9% in credit card fees per transaction. Globally, 4-5 in 10 respondents strongly agreed that card processing fees are too high.
What Google’s cookie reversal means for travel
While third-party cookies are here to stay on the world’s most popular web browser – at least for now – their role in the digital landscape of the future is less certain. This article explores what the change means – and doesn’t mean – and highlights strategic implications for travel advertisers.
How the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) will impact travel
Amid growing recognition of the power wielded by the Big Tech players, governments worldwide have pushed to enact new regulations and increase antitrust efforts.
The labor shortage should be over, so why are we still worried?
The labor shortage in tourism and hospitality should be over by now, correct? Most hotels are back to full operation, airlines have enough pilots to fly their planes, and people do and will need jobs. But the truth is, there is no simple fix.
The travel industry payment gap
Changes in payment are not happening in isolation. As distribution and payment trends are interconnected, suppliers and intermediaries use payment to drive greater loyalty and ease of use. Different industry players are approaching the new payments landscape in their own ways. Here are key areas of focus for the future.
Platforms, topics and influencers: Who’s using what?
Through a better understanding of demographics that embrace social media and the psychology of why people engage with the medium, brands can better position themselves and improve the effectiveness of their social marketing. Our latest research explore the platforms being used for specific components of the trip, how travelers think about which account types and platforms offer the best information and more.
Decisions guided by trust: Social media conversion in travel
In travel, social media plays a pivotal role in influencing trip decisions. But converting social media engagement into actual bookings can be a challenge. Who are the converters that look to creators and brands to make travel decisions?
Some segments have a higher propensity to be swayed by social content
Social media plays a pivotal role in influencing travel decisions, but converting social media engagement into actual bookings remains a challenge for marketers. The travel purchase journey on social platforms is non-linear, beginning with users collecting travel ideas long before planning. Research reveals that converters, who actively use social media to inform their travel choices, differ significantly from non-converters in their platform usage and trust levels. To optimize social media...
The top 15 global travel markets: North America, APAC and Western Europe lead the way
North America, APAC and Western Europe continue to lead in terms of market size, with the top 15 markets in 2023 closely resembling those of 2019, while exhibiting some shifts in their rankings and the addition of a newcomer. Surging by 24% in 2023 to hit $1.5 trillion, here are the top 15 markets, total travel market and growth.
Travel Startups Interactive Database
A redesigned database of 8,000+ startups, 11,000+ funding rounds, aggregated data of investment trends and more.
An overview of the Europe startup landscape
With over 2,500 travel startups tracked in Phocuswright’s Travel Startups Interactive Database, this graphical overview features top verticals by funding, regional rankings and more.
5 things to know about the U.S. hotel market
The U.S. hotel & lodging market had a record year in 2023, thanks to robust demand and historically high ADRs according to Phocuswright’s U.S. Hotel & Lodging Market Report 2023-2027. The labor shortage that plagued the industry, causing service declines and high costs, eased somewhat, allowing hotels to resume services such as food & beverage and daily housekeeping.
The true impact of social strategy
For social marketing in travel, the waters remain murky. On the one hand, engagement with social content has played a clear role in driving destination growth – sometimes even directly propagating overtourism. But in many cases, companies struggle to measure the true impact of their social strategies and fail to comprehensively capture consumer interactions with their content.
Traveler profile in major European markets
Here's a look at the last trip profile for travelers in five markets across Europe.