Travel inflation/recession: Is leisure travel by Air/Rental Car a thing of the past? (cruises, rentals)

[politically_correct]

I worked really hard to try to find a low fare and car rental price for a trip over the Easter Holidays but completely struck out. I could not believe how expensive every thing is getting. It seems like the lowest Airfares have doubled in the last 5 years. Hotels are very expensive also. Car rentals have remained somewhat competitive but the taxes and fees are sky high. Finally with gasoline $3.50 a gallon, the costs of leisure travel is just to high for me.I understand why the costs have gone up. That is not in dispute. What I am suggesting is leisure travel by Air/rental car with hotel stays will soon be just to expensive for the middle class. It will be similar to when I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s when we just could not afford to travel by plane and rental car, so we just stayed home. Is this the life of the few middle class very soon?

[stacylee926]

I was thinking about this today . Mainly because we are already starting to think about a summer vacation. My vacations used to be cruises, trips to California, Disney World - typically higher $$ US travel when you include airfare, rental car, attraction tics etc. I have realized that over the past 3 years, we have scaled everything down. This was definitely not a conscious thing but a newer thinking on my part.

Last summer we rented a car (a Jeep something - mini SUV) and it cost about $400 for 10 days. I thought it was a good deal until we had to pay $10 extra per day for an addl driver! We drove from Virginia to Ft Lauderdale. I made mostly frugal hotel decisions, except in Ft Lauderdale we went luxury for 3 nights. I have recently rented a car for a few weekends to go out of town (because my car was in pitiful shape) and was happy with the $80 weekend rate.

I think leisure travel overall will not go away. Americans are of the mindset that they DESERVE a vacation. Especially now that money pressures, mortgage issues etc are all very stressful. However, that thinking may just change how far away we travel - not the leisure travel itself. We may stick closer to home and drive to a resort town for a week vs flying to a Caribbean island. It will be interesting to see how the travel industry navigates the new mindset. Personally, our family will be driving somewhere again this year. However, it will be in my new car .

[stacylee926]

Another thought - if you started shopping for travel less than 21 days ahead, you will definitely see a higher ticket price. Also, Easter is a holiday, and holiday travel is always higher.

[BLAZER PROPHET]

Originally Posted by politically_correct

I worked really hard to try to find a low fare and car rental price for a trip over the Easter Holidays but completely struck out. I could not believe how expensive every thing is getting. It seems like the lowest Airfares have doubled in the last 5 years. Hotels are very expensive also. Car rentals have remained somewhat competitive but the taxes and fees are sky high. Finally with gasoline $3.50 a gallon, the costs of leisure travel is just to high for me.I understand why the costs have gone up. That is not in dispute. What I am suggesting is leisure travel by Air/rental car with hotel stays will soon be just to expensive for the middle class. It will be similar to when I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s when we just could not afford to travel by plane and rental car, so we just stayed home. Is this the life of the few middle class very soon?

I think travel to traditional vacation areas will remain relatively affordable, but travel to other areas (for example, traditional business areas) will spike upwards. As an example, I purchased a few tickets from Portland to Kauai and they were the same price as two years ago. I also purchased a couple of tickets from Portland to Atlanta and they are up over 100% from 1 year ago.

I also think those traditional vacation areas will see a lot of partnering. Rental agencies, resorts & airlines possibly sharing some revenues and making more package pricing deals that are affordable. Rack rates will go up probably. As another example, I have a small rental car on Kauai set up and will pay $14.99/day. If I was a walk up, it would be about $45 per day for the same car.

The travel industry will find ways to adapt.

[tande1n5]

A thing of the past? The history of air-travel has been one of the jet-set, with the realm of "affordable airfare for everyone" being a recent blip. Airfare, on the whole, has only gotten cheaper (minus the possibility for fuel surcharges). Except for recent years, I don't know what "past" you're referring to of leisure travel by air for all. Even in the 1990's, airfare was much more expensive than today.

[politically_correct]

Originally Posted by tande1n5

A thing of the past? The history of air-travel has been one of the jet-set, with the realm of "affordable airfare for everyone" being a recent blip. Airfare, on the whole, has only gotten cheaper (minus the possibility for fuel surcharges). Except for recent years, I don't know what "past" you're referring to of leisure travel by air for all. Even in the 1990's, airfare was much more expensive than today.

If Air Travel was unaffordable twenty years ago, that has little effect on the situation today. People's expectations are based on what they remember in recent history. I planned a possible trip to Hilton Head Island near Savannah GA based on my memory of what it costs me 3 years ago during the Easter period. According to my records we paid $209 RT from Phoenix and gasoline was $1.69 a gallon. Now things are twice as expensive and my wages have not doubled. So it is unaffordable in relationship to just a few years ago.

[chitown68]

I think it depends on one's locale and their intended destination. If a person resides in a place where there are few discount air carriers, they might have a more difficult time finding a reasonably price fare than someone else living in an area having numerous options. Also, some destinations are more costly at certain times of the year than others. Ultimately, I believe people will still indulge in leisure travel,but advance planning is critical. There used to be a time when people could get away with planning a trip to a popular destination within 3-4 weeks of departure. I would say that people need to plan their travel at least 3 months in advance.

[11thHour]

Originally Posted by tande1n5

A thing of the past? The history of air-travel has been one of the jet-set, with the realm of "affordable airfare for everyone" being a recent blip. Airfare, on the whole, has only gotten cheaper (minus the possibility for fuel surcharges). Except for recent years, I don't know what "past" you're referring to of leisure travel by air for all. Even in the 1990's, airfare was much more expensive than today.

Thank you for pointing this out. Adjusted for inflation, prices are insanely low right now compared to the past. And yet people still complain the prices are too high. I for one wish we could go back to the days when people paid big bucks to fly. I'd love to see the 'greyhound of the skies' days we are in now go away. It seems people think it's a right to fly.

[roanoker 4]

I travelled extensively in the 80's and 90's when the U.S. dollar was relatively strong everywhere so we could afford those wonderful trips. Sadly, the U.S. dollar is so weak it is making travel outside the country too expensive for the middle class now. Europeans travel quite a bit now and the scary part is that they are not coming here in record numbers due to the fear of being shot(albeit our weak gun laws). A funny sidenote: Around 1995 I visited London and thought prices were so high I saw an ad for a lasagna lunch special at Harrods Dept. Store. When I arrived the lasagna was baked without any meat! Always remember middle class folks, the rich will always have money to travel, they have just screwed you out of some wonderful experiences!!

[therewego]

Just yesterday I heard that people are staying in on the weekends just to save gas spent...so I'd imagine that vacations are really going to suffer this summer. We just stayed in a "cheesy" hotel this weekend for Easter and it was still $80/night. I really felt ripped off but oh well, it's over...We are looking at a European trip next year, hopefully things will get a little better or we'll be eating bread & cheese all the way and forget about souvenirs...........