#Trending This Week - Bestiemoons, Gen Z Is Cruising, Extreme Day Trips, Communal Dining, And The Luxury Hotel Amenity Of The Year...
Issue 242 • April 15, 2025
Keeping up with the latest travel and hospitality trends doesn’t have to be too taxing (sorry, I couldn’t resist). 😂 You can literally be up to speed for this week’s news in a quick three minutes.
Cruise Lines Are Reinventing Themselves For Gen Z
Some cruise lines really have their finger on the pulse of what is appealing to Gen Z travelers: booze, hammocks, and WiFi. Younger generations are drawn to cruise lines like Virgin Voyages for their modern amenities, no-kids policies, and focus on experiences rivaling land-based vacations. Reliable WiFi and the all-inclusive pricing model are also attractive features for young professionals and budget-conscious travelers. And now, even older, more established cruise lines are offering new things on board to appeal to younger travelers. Read more in USA Today here.
The Luxury Hotel Amenity Of 2025 Is…
Rare books. Considered to be “intelligent luxury” or a properly curated hotel library. As a home away from home for guests, a hotel should also have an intelligently selected library. While it may remain to be seen if today’s luxury traveler is actually reading a printed book versus a digital version, a growing number of hoteliers believe there is a true art to putting books on shelves which ensure what’s inside the books will inform guests’ experience. Read more at Elle Decor here.
Extreme Day Trips Are Becoming Popular
Extreme day trips — in which travelers fly out in the morning, sightsee (or just grab a leisurely meal), then fly home — might seem outrageous, but the concept has been popular in the UK for years. A bounty of low-cost airlines and relatively short distances between European cities make such quick-hit getaways surprisingly doable. Now, as user-friendly flight-tracking sites and programs like the GoWild! pass proliferate stateside, a growing number of American travelers have embraced the “notel” (short for “no hotel required”) lifestyle. Read more in The Wall Street here.
Communal Dining Is Back
Pretty much every chef will talk about how food brings people together. So perhaps it is no surprise that a new crop of fine dining establishments are attempting to bring people even more together by serving their food in the most “together” way possible: at communal dining tables. As the “loneliness epidemic” continues to affect people, more restaurants are using this to create new social opportunities. Chalk it up to both the romance of the way a cuisine is “meant” to be experienced as well as the practicality of the communal table in serving everything family-style. Read more in Eater here.
It’s Time For The Bestiemoon
Recent data from Tripadvisor reveals an astonishing 39% increase in mentions of milestone-driven travel this year. With rising trends such as "bestiemoons" also known as “friendship honeymoons” — and other celebratory getaways, a growing number of travelers are prioritizing connection and adventure with their closest companions. Many people are now arranging journeys to commemorate important life events, whether it be a retirement, divorce journey, or simply a reward for sobriety. Read more in IOL here.
STRATEGIC CONTENT DIRECTION
Do you have an overall content strategy for your brand or are you just churning out emails, social media captions, blogs, etc. without any specific plan in mind?
All too often, those tasked with the marketing responsibility hire agencies that work in silos. The social media agency has one strategy they are focused on. The secretary or sales manager tasked with email marketing just wants to get the next email off her desk so she throws something together and hits send.
As a result you end up with gaps in messaging, inconsistent positioning, missed opportunities to tell your story, an inability to create relationship with your customer, and a fixation on selling them to make a quick booking which ultimately results in a lost sale.
JC Communications can help you create a content roadmap for all of your target customer touchpoints so the messaging delivered is consistent, impactful, and on brand. For more information, reach out to Jane Coloccia at Jane@JCCommunicationsllc.com.