How Kids Shape Travel, Vacation Decisions

The data collected from kids via online surveys and review sites typically explores vacation-related desires and interest levels in categories such as hotel amenities, beach vs. cultural travel and social media. Ultimately, these surveys show how important youth are in shaping travel plans and decisions.

This article is featured in O'Dwyer's Jul. '17 Travel & Tourism PR Magazine

Today, it appears that most kid-focused travel data is being collected primarily through online surveys as opposed to online reviews. For example, Booking.com, which has more than 118 million user reviews, recently sought to collect post-vacation reviews through a targeted survey of 22,564 kids and teens ages 5-15. The site found that vacations that include trusty -Wi-Fi, social media scenery opportunities, late breakfasts, bouncy beds and other specific categories were important to kids. The data, which was collected from children across the globe with their parents’ permission, provides some much-needed insight into how to match families with a fitting choice of vacation.

Todd Dunlap, Managing Director of Booking.com, Americas, said that “spending time away together is an important part of family life, but we understand that planning to keep all the children happy can be hard,” which is one of the reasons the company decided to orchestrate the kid survey.

Kids want to stay connected on vacation

Booking.com found that teens 12-15 years old rate social media — the ability to keep in touch with friends at home while away — as highly important. Of this age group, 89 percent characterized a strong Wi-Fi connection as essential. This shows how social media has affected the world, with kids claiming that being able to access social media for posting during vacationing is essential. Almost half of the 12-15 year olds valued having the chance to “take cool photos for social media.” Other categories such as “staying near a pool or a beach” and “enjoying lots of activities” were also ranked in the top five important factors.

Based on these results, the top destinations around the world for the 12-15 age group were Japan (Wi-Fi/fast internet connection); U.S. (a pool, lots of activities); Greece (near the beach); and Brazil (the chance to take cool photos for social media). The surveys not only show what kids want to experience while vacationing, but also what isn’t important to them when traveling. For example, only 25 percent of surveyed kids ages 12-15 think it’s important to make friends with other kids on vacation.

Another age group surveyed were kids ages 5-11, whose results varied from the 12-15 age group. Over half (73 percent) of this demographic wanted a vacation by a pool or beach. Other top choices were activities they can’t do at home, playing with other children and having all the ice cream they can eat on vacation. Some of the categories that were not as important were staying in a room bigger than the one they have at home (24 percent), bouncy beds (22 percent), and for vacation staff to be good at telling jokes (10 percent). This data is relevant because it can help parents shape family vacations, or at least gives some insight into what they should be looking into as they plan their next family trip.

Although there aren’t many heavily trafficked websites that cater exclusively to online reviews, Kidzcationz.com was created in 2015 by 12-year-old Bella Tipping from the UK to allow children to rate travel interests such as hotels, restaurants, and theme parks based on the reception of service and other factors. Tripadvisor allows only adults to set up accounts on the site, serving as a basis of inspiration for Tipping. Kidzcations, which is affiliated with Expedia, will allow people to book their holidays directly through the website. Kids can log in to the website to become reviewers, and provides a safe portal that uses an avatar system.

HomeAway, a vacation rentals site representing more than 1.2 million online bookable vacation rental homes in 190 countries, recently released its 2017 Kidpinion Travel Survey, which polled kids and parents across the U.S. The survey collaborated with polling site YouGov to collect data on behalf of HomeAway and FamilyFun magazine.

The purpose of the online survey, which gathered data from more than 500 U.S.-based kids ages six to 18 as well and their parents in households with incomes of at least $50,000, was to see how much of an influence kids have on future vacation plans.

Experiences more desirable than ‘stuff’

HomeAway family travel expert Melanie Fish said the survey suggest that “young people value experiences over ‘stuff,’ and families are planning vacations together.”

“People always ask adults their opinion, but what’s really cool about including kids in the research is that we found making memories is just as important to them as it is to their parents,” Fish said.

The survey also found that experiences matter more than things, with 43 percent of kids claiming they’d rather choose to go on vacation over receiving a physical gift. Harry Potter was a top scorer when it came to the category relating to magical vacation destinations: 27 percent of kids would want to travel to Hogwarts over any other fictional place. The runner up to this survey was Star Wars Galaxy at 21 percent. The survey also found that the number one influencer on kids (37 percent) is their friends, which topped celebrities, social media, TV and movies. Based on parent’s additional participation in the survey, the study found that 87 percent of parents said their kids play a role in vacation planning, and 13 percent said their kids actually make the final decision. This data from HomeAway and FamilyFun magazine research revealed almost 9 out of 10 parents let kidpinions guide trip plans. For example, both parents and kids ranked a private island, castle and treehouse as their top three choices among unique places to stay. Finally, the survey found that parents and kids both ranked having a pool is important to them as a top amenity.