NEW YORK, Aug. 30, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Eight million U.S.
adults have already made hotel reservations for the
November/December holiday season and six million have purchased
holiday airline tickets, according to a new Bankrate.com report.
Click here for more information:
http://www.bankrate.com/credit-cards/holiday-travel-survey/
Approximately 35 million American adults anticipate staying in a
hotel during the holidays (or another type of overnight lodging
that they have to pay for, such as Airbnb) and about 31 million
plan to fly, according to the survey. As August comes to a close,
23% of those expected travelers have arranged paid lodging and 20%
have their plane reservations.
Among those who haven't booked yet, the most common expected
completion date is sometime in September. By the end of next month,
48% of holiday fliers say they will have bought their tickets and
44% think they will have secured a hotel or other paid overnight
accommodations. Roughly 1 in 7 travelers – including twice as many
women as men – won't be done until December.
According to Hopper, an airfare tracker, the early birds
probably didn't get the best deals. They say the best time to buy
Christmas tickets is in early October and Thanksgiving prices typically remain stable
through Halloween.
Another way to save money on holiday travel is to use rewards
points/miles. Many consumers, especially those who travel
infrequently, may not realize how many points/miles they have
racked up through everyday spending on their credit cards. These
programs often allow cardholders to redeem with a variety of hotels
and airlines (or for cash back). And a healthy number of hotels and
airlines have eliminated their dreaded holiday blackout
periods.
A third money-saving strategy, which could be combined with one
or both of those listed above, is to take advantage of a lucrative
credit card sign-up bonus. "This is basically free money," said
Bankrate.com analyst Robin Saks
Frankel. "The best current offers are worth up to
$1,000 in free travel – just for
signing up for the card. You can also get other perks like free
checked bags, airport lounge access, Global Entry and TSA PreCheck.
A good list of cards is available here."
In general, the most popular way to book a flight is through an
airline's website (43%), followed by a travel comparison website
such as Expedia (32%). The order is reversed for lodging, with 34%
preferring a comparison site and 31% opting for the specific
property's website.
Americans' favorite way to pay is with a credit card (49%),
followed by a debit card (31%), cash (8%) and rewards points/miles
(4%).
The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research
Associates International. PSRAI obtained telephone interviews with
a nationally representative sample of 1,002 adults living in the
continental United States. Interviews were conducted by
landline (501) and cell phone (501, including 303 without a
landline phone) in English and Spanish by Princeton Data Source
from August 3-6, 2017. Statistical results are weighted to
correct known demographic discrepancies. The margin of sampling
error for the complete set of weighted data is plus or minus 4.0
percentage points.
About Bankrate.com:
Bankrate.com provides consumers with the expert advice and tools
needed to succeed throughout life's financial journey. For over two
decades, Bankrate.com has been a leading personal finance
destination. The company offers award-winning editorial
content, competitive rate information, and calculators and tools
across multiple categories, including mortgages, deposits, credit
cards, retirement, automobile loans and taxes. Bankrate aggregates
rate information from over 4,800 institutions on more than 300
financial products. With coverage of over 600 local markets,
Bankrate generates rate tables in all 50 U.S. states. Bankrate
develops and provides web services to more than 100 cobranded
websites with online partners, including some of the most trusted
and frequently visited personal finance sites on the internet, such
as Comcast, Yahoo!, CNBC and Bloomberg. In addition, Bankrate
licenses editorial content to more than 500 newspapers on a daily
basis including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today,
The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times.
For more information:
Ted Rossman
Public Relations Director
ted.rossman@bankrate.com
917-368-8635
View original content with
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/millions-have-already-booked-holiday-travel-300511379.html
SOURCE Bankrate.com