Wellness
travel
can
be
enjoyed
with
a
loved
one,
the
entire
family,
or
even
solo.
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Images
Avid
traveler
Lora
Bowler
is
cutting
back
on
vacation
spending.
That
doesn’t
mean
she’s
skipping
the
resort.
The
New
York
resident
said
she
spent
more
in
2023
than
she
had
expected
to,
including
on
travel,
and
is
now
reining
in
her
expenses.
She
uses
travel
hacks
and
benefits
to
cut
some
of
the
cost,
and
she’s
part
of
a
growing
number
of
people
turning
to
hotel
day
passes
as
a
cheaper
option
for
relaxation.
“It’s
like
a
neat
way
to
escape
and
feel
like
you’re
at
a
five-star
hotel,”
Bowler
said,
“but
you
can’t
afford
to
stay.”
Day
passes
at
hotels
and
resorts
offer
guests
access
to
amenities
without
the
cost
of
reserving
a
room.
Bowler
said
she’s
booked
daybeds
and
poolside
services
and
even
found
a
pass
that
offered
a
room
where
her
husband
could
work
from
his
laptop.
Hotels
and
third-party
partners
are
making
day
passes
more
readily
available
to
help
bridge
the
gap
between
travel-minded
consumers
and
luxury
prices.
A
typical
luxury
hotel
room in
the
U.S.
between
Jan.
1
and
April
6
cost
roughly
$400
per
night,
according
to
CoStar,
a
global
provider
of
real
estate
data,
analytics
and
news.
Those
rates
are
about
1%
higher
than
the
same
period
a
year
ago.
Luxury
hotel
room
rates
in
July
are
expected
to
be
85%
higher
than
the
same
month
in
2019,
before
the
Covid
pandemic,
according
to
the
luxury
travel
company
Virtuoso.
“People
are
back
to
thinking
about
travel
budgets,”
said
Hayley
Berg,
lead
economist
with
travel
site
Hopper.
“They’re
prioritizing
expenditure
on
vacations,
more
so
than
consumer
goods.”
In
a
survey
conducted
in
July
2023
by Booking.com, more
than
60%
of
respondents
said
their
cost
of
living
will
determine
their
travel
planning
in
2024,
while
slightly
more
than
half
said
they
were
likely
to
pay
for
accommodation
upgrades.
A
majority
of
U.S.
travelers
said
they
would
be
willing
to
pay
for
day
passes
to
use
the
amenities
in
a
five-star
hotel
without
staying
there,
according
to
a
Booking.com
press
release
about
the
survey.
The
survey
included
nearly
28,000
adults
from
33
countries
who
said
they
planned
to
travel
over
the
next
12-24
months.
Consumers
who
indulged
in
travel
splurges
after
Covid
restrictions
lifted
fueled
the
“revenge
travel”
trend,
Berg
said,
driving
up
demand
for
lavish
accommodations.
Now,
she
said,
that
trend
“has
very
much
run
out”
and
many
travelers
are
working
with
tighter
budgets.
Berg
said
day
passes
“give
people
exactly
what
they
want”
and
provide
a
separate
source
of
revenue
for
hotels.
“Hotels
get
an
incremental
revenue
stream
by
providing
exactly
what
they
already
have,”
she
said.
One
of
those
hotels
is
the
Virgin
Hotels
New
York
City,
in
Manhattan’s
Koreatown
neighborhood.
On
May
8
the
hotel
opened
its
rooftop
pool
for
the
second
time,
with
the
option
for
day
guests
to
use
the
amenity.
The
pool,
with
cerulean
blue
tiles
flanked
by
black-and-white
lounge
chairs,
offers
guests
views
of
the
Empire
State
Building
and
city
skyline.
Customers
can
reserve
a
pool
lounge
chair
or
upgrade
to
a
cabana
and
invite
up
to
four
other
people.
The
cabana
includes
complimentary
services
and
refreshments
such
as
wine
and
fruit.
Day-pass
users
at
the
pool
club
can
also
get
their
own
personalized
server,
depending
on
their
selections.
A
day
pass
for
the
pool
club
starts
at
$130.
“Everybody
needs
a
little
bit
of
escape,”
said
Sarah
Payton,
the
hotel’s
head
of
partnerships
and
programming.
In
May
2023
the
hotel
partnered
with
ResortPass,
a
site
that
provides
day-pass
access
at
luxury
hotels,
resorts
and
spas,
often
at
a
discounted
rate.
ResortPass,
launched
in
2016,
holds
95%
share
of
the
day-guest
market,
according
to
the
company,
and
has
partnered
with
more
than
1,300
luxury
hotels,
including
the
Waldorf-Astoria,
JW
Marriott
and
Fontainebleau.
The
day-guest
platform
has
served
more
than
3
million
users
and
has
rolled
out
day-pass
access
in
more
than
250
cities,
the
company
said,
at
prices
as
low
as
$25.
“What
we
are
really
able
to
do
is
enable
people
a
more
local
way
of
getting
away
without
going
away,”
ResortPass
CEO
Michael
Wolf
said.
“I
think
it
compliments
other
types
of
travel,
and
serves
potentially
in
lieu
of
it.”
The
average
ResortPass
customer
purchases
all-day
access
at
a
cost
of
about
$165,
the
company
said.
Customers
who
buy
day
passes
through
ResortPass
often
splurge
on
poolside
or
other
hotel
amenities
more
than
overnight
guests
do,
Wolf
said.
“Our
guests
on
average
spent
over
$250
on
the
premise
of
the
property,
and
often
quite
a
bit
more
than
that,”
he
said.
Wolf
said
ResortPass
is
currently
working
on
a
membership-like
program
for
customers
who
use
day
passes
frequently,
with
an
announcement
expected
later
in
2024.
