For Gen Z travelers, experiences matter
Travel industry eager to win over generation whose approach differs from their parents.
“It’s the Cheesecake Factory menu problem. There are so many options, any would be wonderful, but you end up having the paralysis of having to make that choice.”
—Jeff Allen, co-founder of The Vacation Hunt
Rebecca Coleman credits her family with inspiring a love of travel, from the grandmother who showed Coleman paintings of places she’d visited to her road trip-loving dad. That doesn’t mean Coleman, 26, of Albany Park, travels the same way her family does.
They’re “planners” who hesitate to deviate from an itinerary, Coleman said. She, on the other hand, once spent a month touring Europe with no fixed agenda. She takes a similar approach to planning trips now, periodically running a wish list of destinations through travel apps like Kayak and Hitlist to see if she can spot a deal during dates that fit her school schedule.
“I just keep looking for what works,” she said.
Airlines and other companies in the travel industry say they’re eager to win over members of Coleman’s generation by paying attention to ways their approach differs from that of their parents. Some offer new tools for browsing destinations or work to catch the interest of young travelers on the social media networks they turn to for inspiration. Others offer straightforward discounts based on age.
Budget-conscious students and young adults might not sound like lucrative customers, and on a recent Friday morning at O’Hare International Airport, several travelers in their early 20s said price is a top factor when booking flights. But young adults also tend to value experiences like travel and are at an age when many are starting to plan trips independently rather than tagging along with family.
“It’s one thing that drives me to see
more and meet more people. A lot of the things I do as hobbies are things I’ve learned from people I met,” said Mehmet Aytekin, 28, who was passing through Chicago Thursday on his way back to Newark after visiting friends in Austin.
He recently spent five months traveling in Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia and says he’s saving up for another adventure.
Even though Sara Wimmer, 23, of McHenry, suffered sticker shock planning an upcoming trip to Japan with a friend, cost wasn’t the only factor.
“I’m willing to spend on things I know will be worth it in the end,” said Wimmer, who said she prioritizes memorable activities and direct flights that make travel easier over things like fancy hotels.
United Airlines recently extended a sale giving customers between the ages of 18 and 22 who booked travel using the airline’s app 10% off flights through June. It also pledged to offset carbon emissions associated with the first 25,000 trips booked using the discount, since younger consumers tend to be more interested in sustainability.
The airline also recognizes that traditional flight booking tools that require starting with a specific destination city might not be the best fit for price-conscious travelers with a long list of places they’d like to visit. Those booking tools also may not be ideal for travelers who are driven more by a desire to explore an interest than a locale.
Wimmer’s trip to Japan, for instance, was inspired by her love of Japanese animation. She also once visited Toronto, Canada, because she and her mom, both fans of ballet, wanted to see a production of “Swan Lake.”
United added a section to its website that recommends destinations based on a traveler’s departure city and interests, like cities with good street food, kidfriendly beaches or destinations with great art.
“People want to explore our network based on experience, not airport code,” said Praveen Sharma, United’s vice president of digital products and analytics.
The airline is also experimenting with a new way to let customers search for flights: an interactive map that highlights airfares to multiple destinations instead of asking the traveler to search for flights to one city at a time. It was inspired by comments from customers last winter who asked whether they could “just shop for 70-degree weather?” Sharma said. Only about 20% of visitors to United’s website see the map, which is still being tested.
Flight search website CheapTickets, meanwhile, has a “Vacation Value Finder” tool that recommends destinations based on the traveler’s budget and preferences, such as whether they want a trip that’s active or relaxing, family-friendly or romantic, in a warm climate or a cool one. The feature isn’t available on sister site Orbitz, which has a slightly older audience.
Most baby boomers have already picked a destination when they decide to take a trip, according to a 2017 survey by Expedia Group, which owns CheapTickets. Younger travelers were more likely to say they were still deciding between two or more destinations at the time of booking, and 9% of Generation Z travelers — those under 23 at the time — said they would decide to take a trip with no destination in mind at all.
Because members of Generation Z generally haven’t traveled as extensively as older consumers, they tend to have “a lot of destination indecision,” said Orbitz director of brand marketing Carey Molloy.
Some conduct extra research to narrow an overwhelming list of choices or figure out how to make the most of their time, turning to social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube and a range of online guidebooks and review sites in addition to consulting family and friends.
Stephanie Smith, 21, of Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood, said she likes looking for YouTube vlogs posted by travelers close to her own age or with similar interests when scouting potential destinations for an annual vacation with friends from high school.
“You can actually see what they did, how their experience was and what they recommend,” Smith said.
Wimmer said Instagram and Facebook can provide ideas even though she primarily follows friends and family, not influencers or travel-specific accounts.
“When I’m watching others go on trips, if I see a cool thing in a location, I’ll file it away for later,” she said.
Southwest Airlines knows its youngest customers are paying attention to social media. For the past two years, the airline has picked a group of customers to serve as social media influencers in an effort to boost awareness of Southwest’s destinations and perks like free checked bags. This year’s cohort was chosen through a contest meant to highlight people who could create images that might inspire someone to take a trip, even if they weren’t household names, said Lorren Thomas, who manages Southwest’s influencer program.
Southwest declined to share the value of the influencers’ compensation, but it includes all travel expenses for four trips to Southwest’s key markets, where they’re expected to document their travels and create content Southwest can share. One recent post from Southwest influencer Kyle Fredrickson, with a photo of a traveler watching a sunset from a hammock, described a trip to Cabo San Lucas and noted customers can use frequent flyer points on experiences at their destination in addition to flights and hotels.
Fredrickson, 30, of Lincoln, Nebraska, thinks his photos connect with other young travelers trying to balance busy jobs with the desire to travel often.
“The reason it started to take off was I was talking about how you can go on trips and have work-life balance,” he said.
Southwest is still testing the program and has not determined whether there will be another cohort of influencers, Thomas said. The airline has seen more people engage with influencers’ posts than posts from its own social media accounts, she said.
But relying too heavily on visual inspiration also has risks.
Shawna Huffman Owen was stumped when a millennial requested a trip to Peru to visit the Rainbow Mountain. Owen, CEO of Huffman Travel, with offices in Chicago and Ohio, had never heard of it, though she’d visited the country three times.
On Instagram, a hashtag for the site has 161,000 posts. But a local contact warned Owen that the peak, which appears to be covered in colorful stripes online, is a disappointing gray in person. There wasn’t even much to see on the three-hour drive from the closest city, she said.
Other travelers decide to outsource the destination decision altogether. A handful of “surprise trip” operators plan trips based on clients’ responses to a survey on their travel preferences. Before the trip, travelers get a weather report and list of recommended items to pack, but they’re encouraged not to open the envelope revealing their destination and itinerary before arriving at the airport.
Both The Vacation Hunt and mystery trip company Pack Up + Go say most of their customers are between 21 and 35, though more Gen X travelers and Baby Boomers are signing up, too.
“It’s the Cheesecake Factory menu problem. There are so many options, any would be wonderful, but you end up having the paralysis of having to make that choice,” said Jeff Allen, co-founder of The Vacation Hunt.