How do you measure up? I currently fall into the 29 percent trying to finalize my plans about a month in advance. Our spring break is not until late April.
The definition of “family travel” continues to expand beyond mom, dad and kids: one in six survey responders will bring friends along as well.
60 percent say they will be doing a traditional Spring Break trip with the kids. 10 percent are planning to bring the grandparents. Eight percent plan to bring grown kids, and nearly 5 percent say they will “bring everyone in our big, multigen family.” Not everyone needs be related to join in the fun; 8 percent say they will bring family and friends, and another 8 percent say they will bring adult friends only.
“We receive these requests all the time,” says Caroline Shin, CEO and co-founder of Vacatia. “We call them ‘like family” trips. Our guests increasingly are booking our larger resort rentals— two-bedroom, three-bedroom or larger—or booking multiple resort residences to accommodate their friends and extended family members.”
We often stay with the grandparents and our friends rent condos nearby. Do you travel with extended family or friends?
There are plenty of challenges to Spring Break family travel planning, but the biggest challenge is coordinating everyone’s schedules and figuring out a budget.
The survey asked about the worst part of family travel planning, Thirty-eight percent say it’s coordinating everyone’s schedules. 32 percent say it’s trying to make everyone happy. 36 percent say that agreeing on a budget is the biggest challenge. 24 percent say it’s choosing accommodations to make everyone happy. The latter is always a challenge for us. Our kids will NOT share a bed so we always need to be sure that we can fit an air bed or have an extra room with twin beds.
Kim Orlando, founder of TravelingMom says, “It can be a real challenge to plan a family vacation, especially when the kids get older, but we know that it’s worth the effort. There simply is no substitute for that family bonding time you get on a family vacation.”
Sharing responsibilities of family travel planning can help lift the burden from mom (The Chief Travel Officer)
Moms are still the main family vacation planners, but they are getting some help. It means moms can share the work — and the blame if things go wrong. Nearly one-third of survey respondents say they share the responsibility for planning the family Spring Break vacation. Eleven percent say family vacation planning is a team sport–they use a democratic approach that gives everyone a vote. Only 3 percent say dad is the primary decision maker.
“We know that moms do much of the planning,” says Orlando. “But we always recommend sharing the responsibility as much as possible—even with the kids. That means mom doesn’t have to do all the work, and she doesn’t get all of the blame if something goes wrong.”
How Spring Break plans will differ most this year vs. last: more than one-third of respondents say they plan to go someplace new.
More than one-third of the Spring Break planners say they will be heading to a new destination this year. This is our plan. I really want the kids to experience something new. Thirteen percent say they will spend less this year (that’s my goal), while 5 percent plan to spend more. Nearly 7 percent will drive instead of fly this year, while 3 percent will fly instead of drive. What are you planning?
Survey results were compiled from 700+ responses between February 22 and March 10, 2017.
About Vacatia:
Vacatia is the resort marketplace for vacationing families and friends. Vacatia provides real-time rental listings, large photos, floor plans, and detailed resort information. The company works with 600+ select professionally managed resorts and resort residence owners at leading hospitality, vacation ownership (timeshare) and premier independent resorts. Vacatia also partners with select brands to operate vacation ownership marketplaces. Vacatia is a member of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) and the Family Travel Association, is venture-backed, was founded in 2013, and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.
About TravelingMom and TravelingDad:
TravelingMom is the leading family travel content and influencer network. The TravelingMom and TravelingDad Influencer Network is a vibrant community of 90+ prolific travel writers and social media influencers. We are moms and dads, grandmoms and granddads, sisters, brothers, daughters, sons with extensive family travel experience. TravelingMom was named to Parents Magazine’s “50 Best of the Web.” In addition to the TravelingMom and TravelingDad websites, TravelingMom also operates SheBuysCars. Headquartered in Greenwich CT, TravelingMom was founded by Kim Orlando in 2006.