Internet expands last-minute travel options
By Chris Woodyard
USA Today
Vacation planning used to involve dogged research. Now just as often, it's a snap decision.
Resort operators are shocked at how casual the process has become.
"We have had people literally call us from I-95 as they are driving toward Williamsburg and book a vacation," says Tim Andrews, a spokesman for the colonial re-enactment village in Virginia.
Last year, 64 percent of leisure travelers — 83 million people — in the United States planned at least one of their trips within two weeks of taking that trip, according to a survey for the Travel Industry Association of America. Of those, one out of four planned their trips only a day or two ahead, and roughly a third booked their trips three to seven days out, the association says.
The last-minute travel phenomenon is one outgrowth of a revolution in how leisure and business travelers book travel.
Now, corporate travelers are booking days ahead to save money, leaving airlines and hotels with more seats and beds to sell at the last minute. Leisure travelers are waiting longer because they think they can find bargains anytime.
Bargain sites blossom
Some Internet travel sites, such as Site59.com (www.site59.com) and LastMinuteTravel.com (www.lastminutetravel.com), have sprung up to capitalize on the trend. And some of the major Internet travel sites have added last-minute sections.
Visitors to Site59.com, which refers to the last minute before the turn of the hour, are up 30 percent in the first quarter compared with the same period last year.
Short-notice escape
Some 9 percent of all bookings are for the same day, part of the 61 percent of total bookings that are up to three days before the date of departure.
"More people are booking within one day than they used to," says Pamela Johnston, spokeswoman for Site59.com, which is part of major travel site Travelocity.com (www.travelocity.com).
At LastMinuteTravel.com, even the Iraq war hasn't dampened sales. Bookings have doubled in the last 90 days, CEO Alan Greenberg says. He says he believes a third to a half of travelers are spontaneous. They are "people who have to be someplace, not because their business dictates it but because their heart says so."
Low occupancy rates at many downtown hotels and empty seats on planes have allowed last-minute providers to package some great deals, says Tom Underwood, who follows online travel for Legg Mason. But, he warns, they could dry up just as fast as the economy improves.
But without the discounts or the going-going-gone drumbeat, consumers may not bite. That's why airlines offer Internet specials. They'll post deals midweek for trips the following weekend at deep discounts.
Lars Larsen, an international business manager in Akron, Ohio, always checks Continental Airlines for its Web fare specials. On two trips to New Orleans, Larsen says, he rented a car and drove to a casino in Gulfport, Miss., where his $1,200 in winnings more than covered the $129 round-trip air fares he had snagged, the rental car and other expenses.
Keeping cruises afloat
For the cruise industry, the last-minute booking is becoming a way of life.
Between the illness scares and the Iraq war, cruise lines have been among the hardest hit areas of the travel industry. And it's showing in cruise prices that occasionally dip below $50 a day for vacationers willing to travel on short notice.
During times of national crisis, people don't want to be away from home. That's no help to the cruise lines that have ships and crews waiting for passengers in port.
"What we found, quite honestly, was that price overcame fear at a certain point," says Tim Gallagher, spokesman for Carnival Cruise Lines.
