At Signature Travel Network’s 2025 Annual Conference, TravelAge West sat down for a roundtable discussion with travel advisor members and supplier partners (one of several media sessions organized by Signature during the event) to gain intel on current booking trends and behaviors.
Participants in the conversation included Kathleen Robb, vice president of global sales, North America at Preferred Hotels & Resorts; travel advisor Dana Nance of Well Traveled Texan; travel advisor Michelle Brock of World Travel; Danielle Rudic, vice president of marketing and product for Travelive; and Ian Petrulli, travel advisor and vice president of Holiday Travel International.
Here's a look at the key trends and challenges that the group identified as most critical in affecting their businesses right now.
Intentional Spending
Most participants agreed that while the majority of clients are not reducing their travel spending (with the exception of some budget travelers), they are extremely intentional about their purchases. One common example? Reducing trip frequency in favor of one bigger, bucket-list vacation, often with the whole multigenerational family in tow — a trend that Well Traveled Texan’s Nance is seeing a great deal of requests for right now.
World Travel Service’s Brock agreed that clients are prioritizing once-in-a-lifetime experiences, noting that she has had more requests for Antarctica cruises and self-drive New Zealand trips in recent months than ever before.
Ultra-Personalized, Deeply Immersive Itineraries
“The new luxury,” according to Travelive’s Rudic, is highly customized vacations that speak to the traveler’s personal interests and preferences while offering a deep dive into local life and culture. She notes that many clients are eschewing big-brand hotels and traditional luxury trappings in favor of properties with local flair and culturally immersive experiences.
Off-Season Travel and Alternative Destinations
The ongoing combination of high prices, overcrowding during peak season and increasingly hot summer weather in top tourism destinations (especially in Europe) is driving more clients toward shoulder- and off-season travel, with roundtable participants reporting requests such as late fall travel to Sicily in Italy, winter river cruises and more. Clients looking for value are also realizing the benefit of going to “dupe” destinations (such as Lake Maggiore instead of Lake Como in Italy) where their budgets will go further, they will have a very similar experience and they will gain bragging rights by having been somewhere not everyone visits.
After getting some negative feedback from a number of clients about the on-the-ground experience in some of Italy’s top vacation spots, Holiday Travel’s Petrulli is proactively suggesting regional alternatives in Europe, including Slovenia. Rudic adds that the Travelive team is also recommending more off-the-beaten-path parts of the country to clients.
Preferred’s Robb also notes an increase in demand for cooler-weather destinations such as the Nordic countries, as travelers look to avoid unpleasant summer temperatures.
Fighting Misperceptions
Both advisors and suppliers note that politics and technology are leading to an abundance of client misconceptions. Holiday Travel’s Petrulli says he is “constantly fighting the news,” as clients come to him with fears that they will not be welcome abroad as Americans, a concern that the group agreed has little-to-no basis in reality (with the possible exception of minor individual incidents).
AI is also proving to be problematic for this group, as content generated by these platforms creates unrealistic expectations among clients about what they will find in a destination, and even what experiences are real or just plain fake. Advisors and suppliers alike are finding themselves educating clients on what activities and opportunities are actually available (and bookable), as well as the real look and feel of certain destinations and experiences.
Extreme Booking Windows
According to the roundtable, booking windows are now increasingly extreme — either very far out, or super last-minute. World Travel’s Brock says she has clients booking as far out as 2027, tied to their desire for big-ticket, bucket-list experiences that they want to get on the books before inventory sells out. Well Traveled Texan’s Nance, meanwhile, reports an uptick in last-minute trip requests, and Travelive’s Rudic says the company has seen booking requests for as little as five days out.
