Understanding Today’s Ultra Luxury Traveler

Not every traveler with a household income (HHI) of more than $100,000 takes luxury vacations. In fact, in a study of more than 1,500 travelers – all with an HHI of more than $100,000 – only 60% consider themselves luxury travelers. On the other hand, those with household incomes of more than $250,000 were more likely to both consider themselves luxury travelers and take more, and more expensive, annual vacations.

These are among the many findings in the 2022 “U.S. Luxury Traveler Study,” which was sponsored, conducted and analyzed/reported by the Olinger Group, a full-service market research firm. The survey breaks affluent travelers down into three groups – those with HHI of between $100,000 and $250,000; those with HHI of more than $250,000; and “others” – then looks at their attitudes towards luxury travel, along with how they plan travel and what they like to do.

More Money, More Vacations
Households with an HHI of more than $250,000 averaged about 5.53 vacations over the past 12 months and are planning for 4.81 vacations over the next 12 months. Households with incomes of over $100,000 but less than $250,000 took 4.07 vacations over the past 12 months and are planning for 4.3 vacations over the next 12 months.

Similarly, households with an HHI or more than $250,000 spent about $13,286 on their travel in the previous 12 months and plan to spend more than $17,000 over the next 12 months. Those with HHI between $100,000 and $250,000 averaged just over $8,000 in annual spend over the past 12 months and are planning to spend just over $10,000 over the next 12 months.

Who are these profitable higher income travelers?

According to the survey, their average age is 47, 56% have kids under the age of 18 at home and 44% have kids under the age of 12.

And why do they prefer luxury travel? While 89% said they enjoy being treated like a VIP, a whopping 98% said luxury travel is a well-deserved reward for their hard work. Ninety-two percent said they’re willing to pay the full price on a vacation, as long as they’re guaranteed the quality and service they deserve.

Travel Advisor Usage
Over the past three years, survey respondents with household incomes over $250,000 said they’ve only used a travel advisor for 17% of their vacations. When it comes to their future vacations, 53% said they plan to use an advisor over the next three years.

Interestingly, more travelers with household incomes between $100,000 and $250,000 plan to use travel advisors for purchases like vacation packages/tours (94%), cruises (86%) and airline tickets (81%) than travelers with the higher HHI. Eighty-eight percent of this affluent group expect to use travel advisors for vacation packages and tours, while 75% said they’ll use a travel advisor to book their cruise and only 69% said they’d use an advisor for their flights.

Eighty-six percent of the more affluent travelers said they’d use a travel advisor to help them choose their accommodations (vs 90% of the less affluent travelers).

Both are interested in getting help from advisors when it comes to choosing their vacation destination — 71% of the more affluent travelers vs 78% of the less affluent travelers.

As for why affluent travelers (of both income levels) choose to work with a travel advisor, survey respondents cited strong knowledge of destinations, ability to research travel more quickly, trust that recommendations assure they’ll have high-quality travel experiences, and less hassle as their top reasons.

Hotels Dominate
Though some affluent travelers are looking for private stay options, hotels continue to dominate the travel plans of those with household incomes of more than $250,000, with 91% saying they prefer a hotel or resort when on vacation. Only 39% prefer a home-sharing options like Airbnb or VRBO.

Even fewer prefer a bed & breakfast (24%), timeshare (24%) or personal vacation home (21%).

Their reasons for choosing hotels over share options include better locations for hotels (100%), unwilling to share accommodations with strangers (82%), easier to book (64%), and quality and safety concerns (64% each).

As to which hotel brands higher HHI travelers prefer, 95% prefer Ritz-Carlton, 94% prefer Four Seasons, and 93% prefer JW Marriott. Other preferred brands include Waldorf Astoria (90%), Grand Hyatt (84%), St. Regis (82%) and Intercontinental (79%).

When it comes to hotel amenities: 98% expect proper shower water pressure and temperature; 96% want free Wi-Fi; 92% expect multiple electrical outlets; 91% want regular housekeeping; 89% want a refrigerator; and 83% want a balcony.

Interestingly, 86% want the ability to choose their specific room before arrival.

FIT More Popular than Cruise & Tours
The popularity of organized travel with affluent travelers with household incomes of more than $250,000 is low, with only 39% extremely interested in cruising (vs 51% of lower HHI travelers) and only 33% (of both HHI levels) having ever vacationed as part of a tour group, though 60% of those with a higher HHI said they plan to in the future (vs 52% of lower HHI travelers). Another 30% said they’re somewhat interested in cruising (vs 27% of lower HHI travelers).

Surprisingly, those more affluent travelers who are open to cruising are more interested in larger cruise lines than the smaller luxury lines with Norwegian Cruise Line (64%), Princess Cruises (57%), Disney Cruise Line (55%) and Celebrity Cruises (54%) leading the way. Only 25% expressed an interest in Seabourn, while a mere 19% were interested in Silversea and 22% were interested in Cunard. (Regent Seven Seas Cruises was not represented in the survey.)

Tour operators that luxury travelers have toured with or would tour with include Abercrombie & Kent (47%), Luxury Gold (42%), Insight Vacations (38%) and Trafalgar (37%).

Social Media Influence
Highlighting why having a presence on social media continues to be important for travel advisors, 67% of travelers with a household income of more than $250,000 said they selected a vacation destination based primarily on social media. (78% of travelers with household incomes between $100,000 and $250,000 said the same.)

Seventy-seven percent also said they trust travel review websites when planning travel. Their highest level of trust is in the travel suppliers directly (81%), though 79% said they trust traditional travel agencies. Sixty-six percent trust online travel agencies and only 59% trust comparison shopping websites.