The Brands Travelers Plan to Book With This Holiday Season
Key Takeaways
Heading into the busy holiday travel season, hotels enjoy the highest purchasing consideration amongst U.S. adults, leisure and business travelers.
Online travel booking platforms are not performing as well with the general public, signaling a need for these brands to connect with less-frequent travelers.
Full-service airlines are more likely to be considered by business travelers than leisure travelers, as cost is a key consideration for leisure booking.
The travel industry, having slowed after a summer rush, is now ramping up again for the busy holiday season. Last year saw record-breaking numbers of travelers through the Thanksgiving and winter holiday period, and this year promises more of the same. As consumers plan their festive trips, an important part of their path to purchase is choosing which airlines, hotels and other travel brands to book with. To help prepare for the upcoming holiday rush, we analyzed and ranked purchasing consideration for all travel brands tracked in Morning Consult Intelligence, which measures the metric on a daily basis in 43 countries around the world. The results portend a strong season for hotel chains, and some nuance between different traveling audiences when it comes to brand preference.
Hotels will see an influx in travelers over the holidays
The top 20 travel brands with the largest share of consumers saying they are considering purchasing from them are all very hotel-heavy. This trend is also true when looking specifically at leisure (those who say they took at least one leisure trip in the past year) and business travelers (those who say they took at least one work trip in the past year). Of course travelers engage more frequently with hotels than they do with other sectors in the travel industry, and they make up a greater share of wallet amongst consumers compared with airlines, so it stands to reason that consumers would have a higher intent to purchase from this group of brands.
Notably for each audience, Marriott and Hilton’s corporate brands rank first and second in purchasing intent, despite Wyndham and Choice hotel groups boasting more properties in the U.S. This indicates a strong standing for these brands, and a likely halo effect on their portfolio properties, which make up a notable share of the remaining top 20.
Major hotel chains enjoy high purchasing consideration
While hotels make up a smaller share of the list amongst business travelers, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing — those who travel for work express higher purchasing intent for all brands on their top 20 than leisure travelers. One notable difference is the presence of Hyatt Hotels on business travelers’ list, ranking higher than it does for leisure travelers and adults in general. This is possibly due to the comparatively high valuation of World of Hyatt points, as rewards programs can be a strong driver for business travelers.
Online travel agents have room to grow with the general public
The path to purchase in travel is winding and fragmented, with consumers collating information from numerous sources before ultimately booking a trip. Perhaps surprisingly, travel planning and booking aggregators known as online travel agents or OTAs are only used often by around a quarter of U.S. adults. This low usage is reflected in purchase intention rankings — for the general population, AAA Travel ranks the highest with just over 3 in 10 adults saying they’re considering using the brand, and Booking.com follows closely behind. While this share isn’t much lower than it is for some higher-ranking brands, consider that OTAs can be used for every trip type. While travelers may not be including a hotel or airline in all travel occasions, OTAs have something to offer every trip, so in theory those brands should have relatively higher purchasing consideration.
OTAs are more likely to be considered by those who have traveled in the past year
These platforms and others are performing slightly better with those who have traveled in the past year, with Booking.com ranking 6th for leisure travelers and 4th for business travelers. Expedia performs slightly better amongst leisure travelers but falls out of the top 20 for business travelers, while TripAdvisor is resonating with more business travelers.
The overall rankings, though, suggest a proclivity to go straight to the travel brand when purchasing, possibly due to a desire from travelers to take the reins and gather information on their own terms, especially given the significant financial investment a vacation commands. However, doing this legwork requires a traveler to devote significant time and attention to the planning process, which can be a particular challenge for less-seasoned travelers (such as those who have not planned trips in the past year). OTA brands should highlight their benefits as a tool to aggregate all options and simplify the search and booking journey to capture traveler attention early in the booking process.
Full service airlines are favored among business travelers
While purchasing consideration is lower in general for airlines than for many hotels, they fare better among business travelers than those who have taken leisure trips. Some of this is likely because air travel is slightly more common for business travelers — in September 2024, 51% of those with plans to travel for business in the next three months said they would be going by air, compared to 47% of those with leisure travel plans. Still, the gap is not wide enough to explain the notable difference in purchasing consideration — business travelers are 14 percentage points more likely to say they are considering booking with American Airlines than leisure travelers, for example.
Business travelers are more likely to be considering purchasing from airlines
Further, while full-service carriers Delta and American are the brands with the highest purchasing intent amongst business travelers, Southwest has the highest standing compared to other airlines amongst adults in general. This discrepancy points to a potential need for the full-service airlines to better cater to the needs of leisure travelers and those who take trips less frequently.
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