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Uncovering our annual travel trends recap in its latest iteration, the 2025 Travel Trends Report, revealed not just where but how discerning travelers are looking to approach discovering their next destination.
With thirty-five years of history pairing seasoned travelers with vacations customized to their specific tastes, SmartFlyer travel advisors are uniquely positioned to anticipate travelers’ ever-evolving needs. SmartFlyer founder and CEO Michael Holtz shares, “Since launching the agency in 1990, the tools we use to service clients have changed—adopting the best technology available is a big part of that. And while we might not be issuing paper plane tickets anymore, how we approach personalizing each trip for our clients has remained the same. As travel advisors, our team is here to make the most valuable parts of our clients’ lives—their time exploring the world with loved ones—more meaningful; from recommending the newest aircraft to ensure a smooth journey to hand-picking the world’s best on-the-ground partners, our team of 250+ travel advisors aren’t following the trends, they’re setting them.”
Buzzwords like ‘bleisure’ (combining business and leisure travel) and ‘destination dupes’ (sourcing a duplicate destination for an ever-popular spot) are being thrown around in increasing frequency, making reading a list of 2025 travel trends feel like wading through a jumble of marketing speak. What even constitutes a travel trend anymore? For us, a true travel trend is rooted in a new way of looking at how you plan your trip from the outset and the intention you’re putting behind it. At SmartFlyer, we’re here to help you see the world differently. It’s our belief that a traveler who’s ahead of 2025 travel trends likely isn’t Googling where to dine in their destination while connected to shotty in-flight WiFi; well-heeled travelers are entrusting their itinerary planning to experts well in advance of departure to build better, more thoughtful trips from start to finish.
…no matter where a client is based or where they’re going, we know they aren’t looking to escape life. We’re building trips that enhance their existing approach to how they want to live.
SmartFlyer COO and Managing Partner Erina Pindar shares, “From home bases in Manhattan to Melbourne, our team is global and hyper-connected. On any given day, we’re exchanging hundreds of messages to trade our best-kept travel ‘secrets’ that we uncover on our various scouting trips. But no matter where a client is based or where they’re going, we know they aren’t looking to escape life. We’re building trips that enhance their existing approach to how they want to live. For our wellness-seekers, that might mean sourcing a practitioner halfway across the world who can help them sleep better, or, for our wildlife lovers, that might mean connecting them to a safari experience where their lodge stay will support sustainability efforts. For us, travel trends are about the big picture and how our trips make an impact not just on ourselves, but the world around us.”
In addition to staying carefully attuned to the trends we’ve seen culminate across our desks in recent months, we recently attended Travel + Leisure’s inaugural World’s Best Summit in New York to hear more about what executives and thought leaders across the industry are seeing when it comes to 2025 travel trends. With conversations led by inspiring moderators from Jacqueline Gifford, Vice President and Editor in Chief, to Paul Brady, News Director, we gleaned fascinating insights spanning aviation, cruising, and the overall client experience. Read on for some of our top takeaways.
Don’t Be Beholden to Your Miles
It looks like we’ve left the days of banking on an upgrade behind on the tarmac. With more and more travelers opting to pay for premium cabin tickets on their base fare and through bid upgrades, less “front of plane” space is being allocated to complimentary upgrades for loyal fliers. In combination with a controversial increased spend threshold required to obtain carrier status (particularly for the higher tiers like Delta Diamond and United 1K), fewer travelers will make routing choices based on loyalty to an alliance alone. In 2025, we anticipate that savvy travelers will increasingly rely on the advice of air travel experts—like the SmartFlyer Air Team—to recommend routes based on premium lounge access, updated aircraft models, and ultimately, value. Data supports that travelers are increasingly diverging into two pools: the first of which is willing to pay for premium services to ensure a seamless journey and the second of which is less and less interested in being loyal to any one airline.
According to Cranky Flier, the premium boom continues, stating, “Coming out of the pandemic, people have shown a rapidly increasing willingness to pay up for more comfort and a better experience on airplanes.”
Recent reports show that Delta is selling 75% of its first-class seats; that’s up from 14% in 2011, meaning that in just over a dozen years, there’s been a five-fold increase in the percentage of first-class tickets being sold versus offered as upgrades to elite members.
According to Forbes, “Gen Z and Millennials are less likely to enroll in airline loyalty programs than older generations. Only 65% of Gen Z and 70% of Millennials are loyalty program members, compared to 89% of Baby Boomers and 80% of Gen X.”
“Wait” is a Four-Letter Word
Speaking of airports, the desire to control every aspect of the travel experience begins with mitigating crowds and lines to and from your destination. Armoring up with CLEAR, TSA Pre-Check, and Global Entry no longer feels sufficient for discerning travelers who are discouraged by TSA lines, which we’re seeing creep up even in priority lanes. Instead, affluent travelers seek the ease that comes with flying private, even if not opting to charter. To reduce wait times in uncomfortable or crowded environments, those who don’t wish to wait are booking private lounge access or seeking the freshest lounge product offered at airports around the world.
Have CLEAR? You and over 20 million other travelers. Some of the country’s busiest airports (currently JFK, LAX, MCO, DEN, SEA, MSP, PHX, and IAH) now offer RESERVE powered by CLEARwhich allows you to save a spot in line for free so that even if CLEAR has a line, you’re not waiting in it.
For those flying out of Los Angeles or Atlanta, PS offers a private terminal secluded from LAX and ATL meaning that even when flying commercial, booking this service ensures you can access private security and Customs clearance.
The unveiling of Delta Air Lines’ most exclusive lounge to date at New York’s John F. Kennedy, exclusively for Delta One cabin passengers and those with invite-only 360 status, further narrows the field when it comes to lounge access. Having a premium credit card won’t grant you entry, and those who’ve paid for a business class ticket (see “Don’t Be Beholden to Your Miles” above) are the only ones who will gain entry for this wait-free environment.
Making Your Mode of Transport the Actual Trip
The “Golden Age of Travel” refers to several periods in history where glamor was embedded in voyages by plane, train, and automobile. But whether we’re referring to the Grand Tour ladies used to takein pursuit of enlightenment and adventurein 18th century Europe, the “Golden Age of Flying” from the 1950s to 1970s characterized by ample legroom and stewardesses serving full meals on fine china, or the heyday of the World’s Fair where literaltrain tracks were laidto bring people to New York, we’re seeing a craving for the mode of transport to be the trip itself. Leading travel brands are responding with innovative new products that fully immerse guests into their mode of discovery allowing them to train or cruise their way through a new-to-them place without ever having to unpack.
La Dolce Vita Orient Express: With bookings open at the end of 2024 for routes launching in Spring 2025, this celebration of joie de vivre evokes the artistic fervor of the 1960s as its routes take passengers on an unforgettable voyage through Italy.
Eastern & Oriental Express Train by Belmond: The charm of a bygone era is reawakened as you wind your way through royal towns and rice plantations at sunset, encounter wildlife at Taman National Park, and delve into Malaysia’s cultural melting pot in Penang. This is slow travel met by inspiring opulence at its best.
“Cruise” but make it a Hotel Branded Yacht: No shade to cruising in its traditional sense, but megaships aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. Top hotel brands have responded with yacht-style vessels that feel more like floating hotels. The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection’s inaugural yacht, Evrima, will be joined by two more in its fleet, Ilma, and Luminara, each of which is outfitted to carry less than five hundred passengers. Four Seasons Yachts is set to launch in January 2026 and promises to be even more exclusive with less than one hundred residential-feeling cabins for guests to call home as they travel throughout the Caribbean and Mediterranean.
Values Driving Vacation Decisions on a Brand Level
One trend we can’t turn away from in 2025 is how travelers’ values are increasingly driving their vacation decisions on a brand level. When it comes to “sustainability,” the word is so overused at this point that it practically bears no meaning; for the traveler who cares about the future of the planet but doesn’t wish to get into the nitty-gritty, it’s about investing vacation spend with a travel advisor who is well versed and can help steer stays towards brands who uphold a high standard for their supply chain and back of house protocols. Ultimately, sustainable travel is about a lot of the things guests cannot see, but travelers can rest assured that their stay is not further contributing to single-use plastic use or food waste by booking with brands that have innovative practices and policies in place.
According to Six Senses CEO Neil Jacobs, “The word that resonates is intention. If intention is lacking, nothing is going to work.” The brand’s goal was to eliminate single-use plastics by the end of 2022, and in order to achieve that ambitious undertaking, they tagged every piece of plastic in front and back of house and educated its supply chain. It came down to changes as fundamental as telling their chefs they couldn’t cook sous vide anymore. The brand will be publishing an industry-leading report by the end of summer 2024 showcasing the tangible changes they made to embody intentional sustainability.
According to HX Hurtigruten Expeditions Chief Expedition Officer Alex McNeil, “When travelers are deciding where to go, they turn to their values. More travelers are looking to polar vessels as a platform for discovery and transformation. At HX Hurtigruten Expeditions, we’re leading the way to scientific research as our vessels are used for regenerative work that informs policy.” The company has donated over a thousand cabins to research in the past year and instead of pushing back against environmental restrictions, they’ve leaned into more restrictive policies to help protect the already fragile ecosystem.
This proclivity to support brands with values that align and reinforce your own goes beyond expedition cruising or hotel stays. Travelers are now selecting luggage and apparel based on how brands uphold sustainable practices. Paravel CEO Andy Krantz shares, “For us, it really all starts with design and recycled or upcycled materials,” when referring to the water jugs from office water coolers they use to craft their luggage. “When we think about luxury, it’s that one-to-one storytelling.”
Harnessing the Healing Power of Family Travel
We often talk about family travel in the simplified contexts of “Spring Break” or “Multi-Generational Trips” but beneath those labels lie the layers of complex family dynamics that unfurl on the road. Good, bad, and ugly, being outside our normal environments flexes new muscles—and perhaps, pushes buttons!—amongst those we love. But when planned appropriately and approached with curiosity, family travel has the power not just to let us relax, but to help us heal. Whether it’s a mother-son/daughter trip after a death in the family or fully pulling the kids out of school to approach immersive education in action, parents are reporting that bringing their littles on the road results in surprising benefits and ultimately, creates more open-minded citizens of the world.
TV personality and bestselling author Amanda Klootslooked back at a recent trip with her son, Elvis, after the death of her husband, sharing, “I really wanted to show my son the world so I was constantly like, ‘Come on, we’re going.’ In the beginning, it was scary to do it on just my own, but I find you learn so much when traveling so I never let being a single parent get in the way. For the first time in four years, we were spending twenty-four hours a day together. What happened was this beautiful healing experience.”
Hotels are responding to the desire for family bonding with specific programming built around shared experiences like beach fitness, creative stretching, and chanting in kundalini yoga. Our partners Jumeriah Al Qasr in Dubai just launched three-, five-, and seven-day retreat programs for families inclusive of activities like daily sunrise walks, a visit to a turtle rehabilitation center, and family constellations workshops.
For families traveling to help showcase other ways of living to their children and in turn, educate them as global citizens, it’s often the least expensive experience that makes the most outsized impact. Ben Trodd, COO of Aman, recently recounted a dinner he had in Sri Lanka at a team member’s home while visiting Amanwella and Amangalla. Citing it as the most transformative experience he’s had on the road as of late, the memory he shared of seeing local life beyond the Aman sanctuary serves a reminder that when bringing kids to the most far-flung destinations, opportunities that allow you to transcend the confines of your hotel or resort and instead exist in the spaces that locals do are what resonate most deeply for adults and kids alike.
“Wellness Travel” Morphing into an Exercise in Longevity
Similarly to the watered-down nature of the word “sustainability,” saying “wellness” in the travel space has come to mean everything and nothing at all. Fortunately, there are some real leaders in the space redefining what wellness is by deepening our look at longevity and how that plays into the design of their properties, considerations around sleep science, macrobiotic menus, non-alcoholic offerings, and spa treatments that go beyond a standard massage.
Long considered a leader in the wellness resort concept since opening in Southern Spain in 2008, SHA Wellness has only continued to refine its already progressive approach to longevity. In 2024, the group opened its first outpost in North America: SHA Wellness Clinic Mexico where their natural therapies and groundbreaking scientific methods are now more accessible than ever to the American traveler. Guests can anticipate an integrative approach that addresses not just nutrition but cognitive health, aesthetics, and healthy aging.
At Lanserof Resorts, a group of three medical wellness centers across Germany and Austria based on the Lanserhof method, guests undergo a series of treatments to help them regenerate physically, mentally, and spiritually. Fasting is at the heart of the Lanserhof method to thoroughly regenerate intestines.
In Switzerland at Chenot Palace Weggis, a seven-night program combines diagnostic tests, medical consultations, personalized treatments, and the Chenot Diet to help guests not just lose weight, but recover lost balance, and reset to reach their optimum vitality, physically and mentally. Voted as the “World’s Best Detox Programme” for the third year running, Chenot’s pillar program doesn’t just act as a blip on your yearly radar; the intention is to transform long-established habits.
Destination Cachet Comes from Avoiding Cliché
This wouldn’t be a true 2025 travel trends report if we didn’t talk about “trending destinations.” As a global travel company with clients and travel advisors based all over the world, SmartFlyer clients are feeling gravitational pulls to places all over Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia—though, many of these are perennial favorites or bucket list destinations with evergreen appeal (Amalfi Coast, anyone?). But the traveler who is motivated by trends is ultimately seeking cachet. So, our spin on the “destination dupes” trend is that the coolest places you can go right now are the ones that few others are visiting. It’s less about replacing Mykonos with Bodrum or Paris with Vienna, and more about finding lesser-discovered pockets that offer their own brand of magic.
Slovenia: In the realm of European travel, you don’t often hear, “I’m headed to Slovenia!” but that’s exactly why we think it should be on your radar. While luxury hospitality is still making its way into this lesser-discovered gem, it’s perfect for intrepid travelers seeking pristine forests and snow-covered Alps set against glacial lakes.
Norway: Perhaps you’ve recently heard about Norway as a destination for a refreshing coolcation. Maybe you saw the recent (beautifully executed) campaign from Visit Oslo. Either way, our eyes are on this scenic haven within Scandinavia.
Bolivia: We recently wrote about 10 Bucket List Trips in South America including the opportunity to stay in a deluxe Airstream Camper to soak up the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, and we’re still not done talking about it! In terms of cachet, we think there’s really something to stripping back to basics and sleeping under the stars. Bolivia, we’ve got our eyes on you.
A Rise in Interest-Based Small Group Trips
Travel trends have long favored pockets of interest-based (golfing, running, culinary, or art) itineraries. But in 2025, we’re seeing a slight narrowing of that scope with all eyes on interest-based small-group trips. While we are long-time fans of the full custom independent touring itinerary at SmartFlyer, an increasing number of travelers are looking to relish in their passion with a small group of like-minded adventurers. As an added bonus, small group trips provide solo female travelers seeking safety and convenience the ability to step into an existing trip framework and travel with confidence.
SmartFlyer Insider Trip: Combining client passions for art and sustainability, SmartFlyer recently began our foray into the small group trip space with an inaugural Cape Town Art Fair Insider Trip taking place in South Africa in early 2025. The next iteration of this interest-based small trip concept will unfold in February 2025 in partnership with New York City gallery Montague Contemporary. With a maximum of fourteen guests, this intimate group will bring together art lovers in Cape Town for theInvestec Cape Town Art Fair, Africa’s largest art fair, including a private preview before the show kicks off on February 21st. Spanning six days, the itinerary will encompass exclusive access to some of the South African city’s best galleries, curator-led studio tours, private collection viewings, and special events like the ZEITZ MOCCA Gala Dinner. Beyond art, the itinerary will also include memorable moments like a mid-morning helicopter ride above the city and a vintage car ride to the Cape Winelands.
Antarctica with White Desert: Circling back to the notion of intentional travel to fragile environments like the South Pole, approaching planning with a consciousness around how your travel impacts the world is at the heart of what we do as travel advisors. Our partners White Desert bring both scientists and travelers to the most remote continent on Earth, Antarctica, through their carefully crafted small group trips. With only twelve guests on each departure, they tailor each trip to be as relaxed or adrenaline-fueled as you wish. While they do have exclusive use options for those looking to travel with their crew only, the majority of their departures (from mid-November to early February) provide the opportunity to connect with your fellow adventurers on the most elusive continent on the planet.
Around the World by Private Jet: While the idea of traveling around the world by private jet may seem out of reach, TCS World Travel has pioneered this space to help travelers maximize their precious time and resources. Their signature journey is twenty-four days across eleven destinations where travelers don’t have to think or plan, they simply show up and are able to enjoy the company of their fellow passengers aboard their mode of transport: a brand-new specially fitted A321 private jet. Chris Kollas, Chief Customer Officer at TCS World Travel recently shared, “We did the research and it would take ten extra days, 15 extra flights, and an additional seventy-eight hours in the air to do our Around the World trip commercially.” Talk about a win-win.
Curb the Amalgamation of AI with the Help of a Human
Yes, AI is here. And yes, it’s going to help improve certain aspects of your travel experience. But, if we are all using the same handful of adaptive models (i.e. ChatGPT), then, we’re all just going to get more of the same recommendations. Meaning, that if a hundred people ask ChatGPT for the best restaurant in Paris…nearly a hundred people are going to be going to the same mediocre restaurant.
When asked about his perspective on AI as it relates to Travel+Leisure’s strategy for content, Neil Vogel, CEO of Dotdash Meredith shares, “We will never have anything ever written by a robot. This is a business decision, it’s not a personal, moral, ‘save publishing’ decision. When people go to Copenhagen, they want information from people who just went to Copenhagen who stayed at that hotel, who ate at that restaurant, who went on that boat tour. There’s no way you can do that with machines.”
In sum, why does this travel trend matter? For us, the intersection of AI with the travel advising space is a question of trust. While every business has an opportunity to leverage AI for more optimal internal processes, a machine-learning model can’t foster trust the way a one-to-one human relationship is built on trust. In the travel space, there is a great deal of mystery in what we do, but the most successful advisor-client relationships come from transparent and nuanced communication that ChatGPT could never properly interpret.
Ready to apply some of these trends to your next trip? Contact your SmartFlyer travel advisor to get started.
