Quantum Metric’s Benchmark Report Shows Despite Rising Costs, Travel Spend is Taking Off

• 74 percent are ready to rebook canceled trips

• 54 percent will spend more than they previously planned

• Conversion rates for March have doubled since 2020

• Average cart values have increased by 26 percent YoY

Consumer’s desire to travel once again has caused 2022 weekly booking rates to be twice as high as what was seen in 2020 or 2021. That’s according to a new travel benchmarks report from Quantum Metric, the Continuous Product Design platform for customer-driven digital experiences, that combined anonymized platform data and consumer survey responses to uncover this year’s travel booking trends.

As guidelines ease, travel is seeing an expected boost globally. Findings show that March, 2022 saw the highest volume of traffic in over two years, with a 142% increase over March 2020. Increased bookings are being driven by consumer desire to make up for lost travel time, especially for the two in three (65 percent) who had a trip canceled due to the pandemic. Report findings show this is driving booking rates significantly higher than what’s been seen in the last two years. Average conversion rates in the U.S. for March 2022 are double what was seen in 2020, while the UK saw an increase of 84 percent between 2020 and 2022.

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Added to this, consumers are “getting revenge” on their lost holidays by expanding their budgets for travel. Half of consumers (54%) will spend more on their rebooked trips and one in four (27%) say it will be a significant amount. Average cart values reflect this, with more than a 26% increase in U.S. and UK cart values over the past four months alone.

“Travel experiences are more emotionally driven than ever before as consumers look to reclaim the adventure and sense of endless opportunity that comes with booking a trip,” said Mario Ciabarra, CEO of Quantum Metric. “For airlines, hotels, and other travel brands it’s important that the digital experience not only be effortless, but personalized to their customers’ needs. Those brands that can truly understand and empathize with their customers could earn their lifetime loyalty.”

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Additional findings from Quantum Metric’s annual travel benchmarks report include:

• Consumers are still looking for the best value. Half of consumers (56 percent) say that their number one factor in choosing a booking is finding the best price or deal. The majority (51 percent) will look at 2-3 sites to make sure they have the best price and one in four (24 percent) admit they’ll look at as many options as it takes to feel like they have a deal.
• Mobile is critical to the booking experience. Like retail and other industries, travel has seen mobile adoption skyrocket. On average mobile is driving at least 62% of digital booking activity, and one in three consumers (31%) have at least three travel apps on their phone.
• Americans are blending work and pleasure travel. One in three Americans are now choosing to work while vacationing to save PTO time (33%) or taking vacations as part of a work trip (30%). One in three (36%) have even lied to their boss about where they were working from when traveling.
• Travel anxiety is higher in the UK than the U.S. Two in three Brits (67%) are more stressed about traveling today than they were before the pandemic, compared to half of Americans (55 percent). British anxiety comes from concerns about plans being canceled by the travel company (34 percent) or due to misinterpreting COVID guidelines (33 percent).