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In December 2023, Placer.ai released the white paper: The Retail Opportunity of Stadiums. Below is a taste of our findings. To read more data-driven consumer research, visit our resource library.
While every stadium provides a similar core of traditional game day eats, each venue also offers a unique set of dining options, both on- and off-premise. The visitor bases of the various venues also exhibit unique dining tastes – a reminder that no customer or fan base is alike. Aligning on- or off-site dining options with offerings that align with a given customer base’s preferences can improve overall visitor satisfaction and boost revenues.
The chart below shows the share of visitors coming to a stadium from a dining venue (on the x-axis) or going to a dining venue after visiting the stadium (on the y-axis). The data reveals a correlation between pre-stadium dining and post-stadium dining – stadiums where many guests visit dining venues before the stadium also tend to have a large share of guests going to dining venues after the event. For example, the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, saw large shares of visitors grabbing a bite to eat on their journey to or from the stadium, while the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland saw low rates of pre- and post stadium dining engagement.
These trends present opportunities for both local businesses and stadium stakeholders. For example, venues with high dining engagement can explore partnerships with local restaurants, while those with lower rates can build out their in-house dining options for hungry sports fans.
Stadiums looking to enhance their food offerings – or local entrepreneurs thinking of opening a restaurant near a stadium – can also get inspired by stadium visitors’ dining preferences. For example, psychographic data taken from the Spatial.ai: FollowGraph dataset reveals that visitors to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey have a much stronger preference for Asian cuisine compared to New Jersey residents overall. With that knowledge, the stadium can enhance the visitor experience by expanding its Asian food offerings.
On the other hand, MetLife Stadium goers seem much less partial to Brewery fare than average New Jerseyans, so the stadium operators and restaurateurs may want to avoid offering too many Brewery-themed dining options. Stadium stakeholders can reserve the craft beers for Caesars Stadium, M&T Bank Stadium, and Soldier Field Stadiums, where visitors seem to enjoy artisanal brews more than the average resident in Louisiana, Maryland, and Illinois, respectively.
Sports leagues like the NBA, NFL, and MLB boast billion-dollar revenues – and the venues where these games unfold hold significant commercial potential in their own rights. Stadium operators, restaurateurs, and other stakeholders can leverage location intelligence and analyze visitor behavior outside the stadiums to understand visit patterns and consumer preferences during games and in the off-season.
Read the full report here to discover more stadium insights. For more data-driven consumer research, visit our resource library.
Urban Outfitters, Inc., operates several apparel banners, including Anthropologie and the eponymous Urban Outfitters. Both brands sell bohemian-style women’s apparel and home goods, although Urban Outfitters’ selection is slightly more eclectic and also includes menswear. Location intelligence indicates that both brands have stores in areas that have the potential to attract similar types of shoppers – but in practice, the two chains’ audiences look rather different.
To better understand the contrast between the two chains, we dove into the demographic and psychographic data of Urban Outfitters’ and Anthropologie’s trade areas.
Location analytics can be used to analyze a chain’s area through two different methods. The potential market trade area focuses on the demographic and psychographic makeup of the Census Block Groups (CBGs) making up the trade area, with each CBG weighted according to the population size of that CBG. The captured market trade area, on the other hand, weighs the CBGs within the trade area according to the number of visits received by the chain from each CBG. So while a potential market analysis can show the types of visitors that a chain can reach on the basis of the geographic location of the chain’s venues, the captured market reveals the audience segments within the potential trade area that actually visit the chain in practice.
For example, the median HHI for both Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters is higher in the captured market than in the potential market. This means that both brands attract visits from the higher-income households within their potential trade area.
The data also indicates that both chains have a relatively similar potential market median HHI, so both chains can reach customers with relatively similar income levels, given their store fleet configuration: Anthropologie’s potential market median HHI is only 5.5% higher than Urban Outfitters’ ($84.7K vs. $80.3K). But in practice, Anthropologie visitors tend to come from much more affluent households than Urban Outfitters visitors, with Anthropologie’s captured market median HHI 17.3% higher than Urban Outfitters’ ($103.6K vs. $88.3K).
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Looking at the household types in Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters’ potential markets reinforces how the two chains have the potential to draw a relatively similar visitor base. Anthropologie’s and Urban Outfitters’ potential trade areas have 38.5% and 38.8% of one-person and non-family (i.e. roommate) households, respectively, and 26.6% and 26.5% of households with children.
In practice, however, Anthropologie tends to attract more households than Urban Outfitters from family-friendly neighborhoods – the share of households with children in its captured market stands at 26.3%, compared with 23.6% for Urban Outfitters’ captured market. Meanwhile, Urban Outfitters seems to be more popular among visitors from one-person and non-family households, with 43.5% of its captured market belonging to this segment, compared to 38.5% of Anthropologie’s captured market.
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Analyzing the captured and potential markets of Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters from a psychographic perspective also reveals differences between the two brands that align with the demographic profiles in the chains’ trade areas. Anthropologie tends to attract more suburban visitors – including shoppers belonging to Spatial.ai PersonaLive’s “Booming with Confidence” segment. Meanwhile, Urban Outfitters draws more Singles & Starters than Anthropologie in both its captured and potential trade area.
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The differences between the makeup of Athropologie’s and Urban Outfitters’ potential and captured market indicate that a chain’s site selection strategy is not the only factor impacting who visits the chain’s stores in practice.
Both Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters have relatively similar psychographics and demographics in their potential trade areas, meaning that – based solely on the location of their stores – both brands’ stores have the potential to reach the same types of shoppers. But the demographics and psychographics in the captured markets are distinct, indicating that even stores carrying similar sorts of products and located in similar areas can use contrasting branding, price-points, and other factors to draw in the desired target audience.
For more data-driven retail insights, visit placer.ai/blog.
Hot on the heels of the burrito’s emergence as America’s favorite dish in 2022 – edging out even the iconic cheeseburger – spicy potato tacos rocked Grubhub’s list of 2023’s top five spicy food orders.
So with the new year upon us, we dove into the data to check in with three steadily-expanding taco chains that are likely to continue making waves this year: Bartaco, Condado Tacos, and El Vaquero. Each of the three chains fills a somewhat different niche, and each of them is growing – showing that despite the challenges facing the restaurant industry, there’s a hot market for taco chains that hit the sweet spot with the right food and ambiance.
Bartaco, the upscale eatery known for its beach-like vibe, specialty cocktails, and eclectic street food menu, is a taco restaurant with a twist. The diverse menu includes everything from falafel tacos to glazed pork belly rice bowls. And while guac and chips are on offer, hungry diners can also indulge in kale caesar salad or Korean-style kimchi. Over the past several years, Bartaco has expanded its fleet – and the restaurant now boasts some 29 locations across 12 states (and Washington, D.C).
Condado Tacos is another popular restaurant that has grown its footprint in recent years. The “come as you are” casual-dining chain known for its funky art decor now features some 49 locations across 10 states – 20 of them in Ohio. And with plans to open 90-100 restaurants by 2026, the chain is on a roll. Customers can build their own tacos with fillings like Thai Chili Tofu or Tequila-Lime Steak, or choose one of the menu’s tempting suggestions. And like Bartaco, Condado Tacos offers a variety of cocktails – including seasonal choices like the Harvest Pear Marg.
And location intelligence shows that the expansion of both chains is meeting growing demand. Visits to Bartaco and Condado Tacos have risen steadily over the past two years, reaching a respective 52.2% and 52.9% growth in Q4 2023 relative to Q1 2022.
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Ohio is also home to El Vaquero – a Mexican chain with 18 locations in the Buckeye State and two more in Michigan. El Vaquero, which has also expanded over the past several years, saw foot traffic rise 4.8% in Q4 2023 compared to the equivalent period of 2022. And with a menu that includes everything from nachos to huevos con chorizo, it’s no wonder the chain has emerged as a local favorite.
Like Bartaco and Condado Tacos, El Vaquero has a rich cocktail menu, as well as a varied selection of wines and beers. And while the chain’s offerings certainly draw crowds throughout the year, El Vaquero really goes crazy on Cinco de Mayo, the May 5th commemoration of Mexico's victory over Napoleon in 1862. El Vaquero marks the occasion with a five-day special menu and an all-day happy hour on Cinco de Mayo itself. And on May 5th, 2023, El Vaquero experienced its busiest day of the year by far, drawing a remarkable 200.2% more visitors than it did, on average, during April and May 2023.
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Drilling down into the data for Bartaco, Condado Tacos, and El Vaquero shows that despite their differences, the three chains experience similar hourly visitation patterns. All three are busiest in the evenings – but while El Vaquero and Condado Tacos peak between 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM, Bartaco peaks somewhat later, between 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM. Bartaco also stays busier into the 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM time slot.
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Bartaco’s, Condado Tacos’, and El Vaquero’s evening draw may be due, in part, to the special appeal they hold for singles: The captured markets of all three chains feature significant shares of one-person households – and in the case of Bartaco and Condado Tacos, smaller concentrations of families with children. (For El Vaquero, the proportion of households with children is on par with that of single-person households). Of the three, the more upscale Bartaco boasts the highest share of single-person households – and the lowest share of parental ones – perhaps explaining its later visit peak and greater late-night engagement.
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Mexican food has arisen as a preferred cuisine for many consumers. And even in today’s challenging economic environment, brands that can offer a winning combination of good food, nice cocktails, and a welcoming atmosphere are poised to thrive. How will Bartaco, Condado Tacos, and El Vaquero continue to fare in the new year? And what lies in store for the wider taco restaurant space in the months to come?
Follow Placer.ai’s data-driven dining analyses to find out.
High food-away-from-home prices weighed on the dining sector in 2023. But affordable indulgences were the name of the game – and for plenty of people, their daily caffeine fix remained non-negotiable.
So with the new year gathering steam, we dove into the data to explore consumer trends impacting Starbucks and Dunkin’ in 2023. What were the biggest days of the year for the two chains? And who were the java enthusiasts driving visits to the two chains last year?
The first Friday of every June is National Donut Day, an event first kicked off by the Salvation Army in the 1930’s to honor folks that served doughnuts to soldiers during the First World War. Every year, Dunkin’ marks the occasion with – you guessed it – free doughnuts, and this year wasn’t any different. On June 2, 2023, Dunkin’ fans were invited to snag a delicious free treat with the purchase of any beverage, and customers turned out in droves.
The day turned out to be the busiest one of the year, with Dunkin’ locations seeing a 49.4% increase in foot traffic compared to the chain’s 2023 daily average. And after a couple of years when the occasion garnered somewhat less turnout, National Donut Day appears to be very much on track to regain its pre-COVID glory (The last time National Donut Day was the busiest day of the year was in 2019). Friends, it seems, really don't let friends miss out on free doughnuts.
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Like many restaurant and coffee chains, Starbucks tends to be busiest on Saturdays. And in 2023, the popular coffee chain drew its biggest crowds on November 4th – the first Saturday after the launch of the eagerly-anticipated holiday menu. With mouth-watering offerings like Chestnut Praline Latte and Iced Gingerbread Oatmeal Chai, it’s no wonder customers can’t wait to indulge – especially when they can top off their drink with a Snowman Cookie or a Peppermint Brownie Cake Pop. (Luckily, the menu launch comes before those pesky new year’s resolutions.)
Starbucks’ second-busiest day of the year in 2023 was Black Friday (November 24th), as shoppers sought a quick way to fuel up or get a caffeine boost while they hit the stores. And the chain’s third-busiest day of the year was August 26th – the first Saturday after the annual release of Starbucks’ calendar-owning Pumpkin Spice Latte, a tradition that never fails to drive excitement – and foot traffic.
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But who were the customers that fueled Starbucks’ and Dunkin’s foot traffic in 2023? Analyzing the two chains’ captured markets with psychographics from Spatial.ai shows that while each of them attracted a somewhat different audience, they both drew diverse crowds throughout the year.
Starbucks, which features a cozy ambiance that encourages people to stay a while, has emerged as a popular WFH spot – and is more likely than Dunkin’ to be frequented by Young Professionals. The doughnut leader, on the other hand, boasts a to-go vibe, and draws greater shares of Suburban Boomers and Rural High-Income customers. Still, the data shows that coffee consumption is far from a zero-sum game, and in 2023, both chains attracted healthy shares of each of the analyzed segments.
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In addition, while Starbucks customers tend to hail from more affluent areas than Dunkin’ fans, the median household income (HHI) of each chain’s customer base varied considerably by region last year – as did the extent of the HHI gap between the two chains.
Starbucks’ most affluent customer base was in New England, where the median HHI of its captured market stood at $90.7K – a significant 19.2% higher than that of Dunkin’s ($75.8K). But in the Pacific region, including California, Dunkin’s captured market had a median HHI of $83.2K, just 2.1% lower than that of Starbucks.
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“Coffee, coffee, coffee!” may be a bit from Gilmore Girls, but it’s also a way of life for millions of Americans. And location data shows that in 2023, there was plenty of love to go around for coffee leaders like Starbucks and Dunkin’.
How will National Donut Day and Starbucks’ holiday menu play out in 2024? And what does the new year have in store for the coffee space more generally?
Follow Placer.ai’s data-driven analyses to find out.
In the spring of 2023, the surgeon general released an alarming report about the epidemic of loneliness in the US, which has negative implications on our physical, social, and emotional health such as “a 29% increased risk of heart disease, a 32% increased risk of stroke, and a 50% increased risk of developing dementia for older adults. Additionally, lacking social connection increases risk of premature death by more than 60%.” Among his six recommendations to combat this, the number one idea was to “Strengthen Social Infrastructure: Connections are not just influenced by individual interactions, but by the physical elements of a community (parks, libraries, playgrounds) and the programs and policies in place. To strengthen social infrastructure, communities must design environments that promote connection, establish and scale community connection programs, and invest in institutions that bring people together.” We’ve written at length about how malls are becoming one of the old-but-new gathering places for Gen Z and how pickleball is a new craze that has been bringing people together. Let’s take a look now at how some parks and recreation centers serve their communities as well as the vision for one mall redeveloper, who held town halls and numerous local meetings in order to understand the needs of the community.
First up is Brooklyn Bridge Park. This 85- acre park resides on the Brooklyn side of the East River in New York City. It has revitalized 1.3 miles of Brooklyn’s post-industrial waterfront. Among its many offerings are playgrounds, athletic fields, a roller-skating rink, fitness equipment, kayak and canoe launch sites, and basketball, bocce, handball, and beach volleyball courts.
There’s certainly a seasonal element to park visitation, with visits increasing into the spring and peaking in the summer.
Late afternoon into the evening tends to be when most people visit the park.
It appears most visitors enjoy their park outing with hamburgers, some shopping, pizza, and ice cream with Shake Shack the top destination before and after visiting.
While Educated Urbanites and Young Urban Singles make up the majority of segments, the park attracts a broad range of additional segments, ranging from Ultra Wealthy Families to Urban Low Income. Another fun fact about this park is that it is financially self-sustaining, due to the fact that 10% of the parkland was set aside for development, which sustains 90% of the park’s operating budget.
Speaking of Brooklyn, we now turn our attention to a Dallas-based developer, Peter Brodsky, who originally hails from Brooklyn. He purchased the Redbird Mall in South Dallas in 2015 and incorporated much community feedback to understand what the residents in the area wanted, such as jobs, health care, grocers, restaurants, and a Starbucks. It’s currently under development as The Shops at RedBird, and incorporating trends we’ve highlighted in previous Anchor articles, such as mixed-use, with a new apartment complex on the grounds of an ex-parking lot; a Courtyard Marriott hotel to follow; two health care providers--Parkland and UT Southwestern-- taking over Dillard’s and Sears further reinforcing our bullishness on malls and healthcare; and on the second floor a call center operator that employs two thousand workers with plans for more. Below, we show a birds-eye view plan for this exciting new development. Plus, there is a one-acre lawn for community events.
Like almost all malls, these shops saw a dip during the pandemic, but since then traffic has perked up.
When we look at year-over-year change from the surrounding zip codes, we see a fair amount of growth coming from the south and the farther western direction.
Using Jan 1, 2023 as a baseline, the overall shopping center as well as some of the major tenants like Starbucks, Burlington, and Foot Locker show a positive trend.
In fact, among all the Starbucks stores that Placer tracks, this Starbucks location at Redbird ranks #5 in traffic for the year 2023.
In more exciting news, there are also plans for a Tom Thumb grocery to open up at this shopping center. We will keep an eye on this development for sure as more tenants and office/residence/hospitality opens up.
The past four years have each taken on their own identities for consumers, retailers, and commercial real estate companies. 2020 was obviously the pandemic year, where consumers had to quickly change behaviors and retailers were forced to make drastic changes in their business models to keep up. With such drastic changes in 2020, 2021 became a year where many retailers and commercial real estate companies made structural changes in their operating models, adopting new store sizes or formats or evolving their tenant mix. 2022 got off to a rocky start with COVID variants and inflationary pressures, but eventually, we saw a reopening that led to a shift away from physical goods to experiences that has largely continued through today. And while inflation defined much of 2023, we also think consumers' focus on events, value, and uniqueness also explains consumer behavior.
Heading into the year, there was hope that 2024 would be our first “normal” year in some time, but three weeks in, we’re already seeing evidence that weather may be end up being a more pronounced story. Storms across the Midwest (for the week ending Jan. 15) and Southeast (during the week ended Jan. 22) have already had a significant impact on visitation trends across many retail categories. Below, we’ve used data from Placer’s Industry Trends report to examine year-over-year visit trends for chains across all major retail categories to start the year.
For the week ended Jan. 8, visits decreased -8.6% nationwide across all categories and a relatively small variance range across states (ranging from double-digit declines across much of the Northeast to low-single-digit decline in the upper Midwest).
We start to see the impact of the snowstorms that hit the Midwest U.S. during the week ended Jan. 15, with Nebraska and Iowa seeing an almost 30% decrease in visitors year-over-year, and many other surrounding states seeing a 20% decrease in visits.
For the week ended Jan. 22, the Southeast U.S. was more heavily impacted, including a -32% decrease in retail visits in Tennessee, a -22% decline in Mississippi, and mid-to-high teens declines in Arkansas, Kentucky, Alabama, and West Virginia. Texas saw a -14% decline in visits that week.
Which categories were hit hardest by these weather trends? Consumer electronics–which had a strong Black Friday and solid holiday period (which we discuss in the economics section below)–saw mid-to-high teen declines in visits throughout January, although the category is lapping some tougher comparisons with many retailers shedding excess inventory in the year ago period (this is also true for office supplies). After that, we see the greatest impact in a few more weather-sensitive categories like home improvement (mid-teens declines in visits) and restaurants (the QSR/Fast Casual and full-service restaurant categories both saw double-digit declines in visits as the month progressed).
We expect weather will be a key topic as retailers and restaurants begin to report their full-year 2023 results and provide 2024 outlooks over the next month. Historically, inclement weather is something that doesn’t have a major impact on consumer demand for products and services (it usually just delays these purchases), but it is possible that those chains that have outsized exposure to the affected regions may temper their expectations for the year.
The first Lollapalooza – a four-day music festival – took place in 1991. Chicago’s Grant Park became the event’s permanent home (at least in the United States) in 2005, drawing thousands of revelers and music fans to the park each year.
This year, the festival once again demonstrated its powerful impact on the city. On August 1st, 2024, visits to Grant Park surged by 1,313.2% relative to the YTD daily average, as crowds converged on the park to see Chappell Roan’s much-anticipated performance. And during the first three days of the event, the event drew significantly more foot traffic than in 2023 – with visits up 18.9% to 35.9% compared to the first three days of last year’s festival (August 3rd to 5th, 2023).
Lollapalooza led to a dramatic spike in visits to Grant Park – and it also attracted a different type of visitor compared to the rest of the year.
Analyzing Grant Park’s captured market with Spatial.ai’s PersonaLive dataset reveals that Lollapalooza attendees are more likely to belong to the “Young Professionals” and “Ultra Wealthy Families” segment groups than the typical Grant Park visitor.
By contrast, the “Near-Urban Diverse Families” segment group, comprising middle-class diverse families living in or near cities, made up only 6.5% of visitors during the festival, compared to 12.0% during the rest of the year.
Additionally, visitors during Lollapalooza came from areas with higher HHIs than both the nationwide baseline of $76.1K and the average for park visitors throughout the year. Understanding the demographic profile of visitors to the park during Lollapalooza can help planners and city officials tailor future events to these segment groups – or look for ways to make the festival accessible to a wider range of music lovers.
Lollapalooza’s impact on Chicago extended beyond the boundaries of Grant Park, with nearby hotels seeing remarkable surges in foot traffic. The Congress Plaza Hotel on South Michigan Avenue witnessed a staggering 249.1% rise in visits during the week of July 29, 2024, compared to the YTD visit average. And Travelodge on East Harrison Street saw an impressive 181.8% increase. These spikes reflect the festival’s draw not just for locals but for out-of-town visitors who fill hotels across the city.
The North Michigan Avenue retail corridor also enjoyed a significant increase in foot traffic during the festival, with visits on Thursday, August 1st 56.0% higher than the YTD Thursday visit average. On Friday, August 2nd, visits to the corridor were 55.7% higher than the Friday visit average. These numbers highlight Lollapalooza’s role in driving economic activity across Chicago, as festival-goers venture beyond the park to explore the city’s vibrant retail and hospitality offerings.
City parks often serve as community hubs, and Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, NY, has been a major gathering point for New Yorkers. The park hosted one of New York’s most beloved summer concerts – Governors Ball – which moved from Governors Island to Flushing Meadows in 2023.
During the festival (June 9th -11th, 2024), musicians like Post Malone and The Killers drew massive crowds to the park, with visits soaring to the highest levels seen all year. On June 9th, the opening day of the festival, foot traffic in the park was up 214.8% compared to the YTD daily average, and at its height, on June 8th, the festival drew 392.7% more visits than the YTD average.
The park also hosted other big events this summer – a July 21st set by DMC helped boost visits to 185.1% above the YTD average. And the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival on August 3rd and 4th led to major visit boosts of 221.4% and 51.6%, respectively.
These events not only draw large crowds, but also highlight the park’s role as a space where cultural and civic life can find expression, flourish, and contribute to the health of local communities.
Analyzing changes in Flushing Meadows Corona Park’s trade area size offers insight into how far people are willing to travel for these events. During Governors Ball, for example, the park’s trade area ballooned to 254.5 square miles, showing the festival's wide appeal. On July 20th, by contrast, when the park hosted several local bands and DJs, the trade area was a much more modest 57.0 square miles.
Summer events drive community engagement, economic activity, and civic pride. Cities that invest in their parks and event hubs, fostering lively and inclusive spaces, can create lasting value for both residents and visitors, enriching the cultural and social life of urban areas.
For more data-driven civic stories, visit Placer.ai.
The pandemic and economic headwinds that marked the past few years presented the multi-billion dollar hotel industry with significant challenges. But five years later, the industry is rallying – and some hotel segments are showing significant growth.
This white paper delves into location analytics across six major hotel categories – Luxury Hotels, Upper Upscale Hotels, Upscale Hotels, Upper Midscale Hotels, Midscale Hotels, and Economy Hotels – to explore the current state of the American hospitality market. The report examines changes in guest behavior, personas, and characteristics and looks at factors driving current visitation trends.
Overall, visits to hotels were 4.3% lower in Q2 2024 than in Q2 2019 (pre-pandemic). But this metric only tells part of the story. A deeper dive into the data shows that each hotel tier has been on a more nuanced recovery trajectory.
Economy chains – those offering the most basic accommodations at the lowest prices – saw visits down 24.6% in Q2 2024 compared to pre-pandemic – likely due in part to hotel closures that have plagued the tier in recent years. Though these chains were initially less impacted by the pandemic, they were dealt a significant blow by inflation – and have seen visits decline over the past three years. As hotels that cater to the most price-sensitive guests, these chains are particularly vulnerable to rising costs, and the first to suffer when consumer confidence takes a hit.
Luxury Hotels, on the other hand, have seen accelerated visit growth over the past year – and have succeeded in closing their pre-pandemic visit gap. Upscale chains, too, saw Q2 2024 visits on par with Q2 2019 levels. As tiers that serve wealthier guests with more disposable income, Luxury and Upscale Hotels are continuing to thrive in the face of headwinds.
But it is the Upper Midscale level – a tier that includes brands like Trademark Collection by Wyndham, Fairfield by Marriott, Holiday Inn Express by IHG Hotels & Resorts, and Hampton by Hilton – that has experienced the most robust visit growth compared to pre-pandemic. In Q2 2024, Upper Midscale Hotels drew 3.5% more visits than in Q2 2019. And during last year’s peak season (Q3 2023), Upper Midscale hotels saw the biggest visit boost of any analyzed tier.
As mid-range hotels that still offer a broad range of amenities, Upper Midscale chains strike a balance between indulgence and affordability. And perhaps unsurprisingly, hotel operators have been investing in this tier: In Q4 2023, Upper Midscale Hotels had the highest project count of any tier in the U.S. hotel construction and renovation pipeline.
The shift in favor of Upper Midscale Hotels and away from Economy chains is also evident when analyzing changes in relative visit share among the six hotel categories.
Upper Midscale hotels have always been major players: In H1 2019 they drew 28.7% of overall hotel visits – the most of any tier. But by H1 2024, their share of visits increased to 31.2%. Upscale Hotels – the second-largest tier – also saw their visit share increase, from 24.8% to 26.1%.
Meanwhile, Economy, Midscale, and Upper Upscale Hotels saw drops in visit share – with Economy chains, unsurprisingly, seeing the biggest decline. Luxury Hotels, for their parts, held firmly onto their piece of the pie, drawing 2.8% of visits in H1 2024.
Who are the visitors fueling the Upper Midscale visit revival? This next section explores shifts in visitor demographics to four Upper Midscale chains that are outperforming pre-pandemic visit levels: Trademark Collection by Wyndham, Holiday Inn Express by IHG Hotels & Resorts, Fairfield by Marriott, and Hampton by Hilton.
Analyzing the captured markets* of the four chains with demographics from STI: Popstats (2023) shows variance in the relative affluence of their visitor bases.
Fairfield by Marriott drew visitors from areas with a median household income (HHI) of $84.0K in H1 2024, well above the nationwide average of $76.1K. Hampton by Hilton and Trademark Collection by Wyndham, for their parts, drew guests from areas with respective HHIs of $79.6K and $78.5K – just above the nationwide average. Meanwhile, Holiday Inn Express by IHG Hotels & Resorts drew visitors from areas below the nationwide average.
But all four brands saw increases in the median HHIs of their captured markets over the past five years. This provides a further indication that it is wealthier consumers – those who have had to cut back less in the face of inflation – who are driving hotel recovery in 2024.
(*A chain’s captured market is obtained by weighting each Census Block Group (CBG) in its trade area according to the CBG’s share of visits to the chain – and so reflects the population that actually visits the chain in practice.)
Much of the Upper Midscale visit growth is being driven by chain expansion. But in some areas of the country, the average number of visits to individual hotel locations is also on the rise – highlighting especially robust growth potential.
Analyzing visits to existing Upper Midscale chains in four metropolitan areas with booming tourism industries – Salt Lake City, UT, Palm Bay, FL, San Diego, CA, and Richmond, VA – shows that these markets feature robust untapped demand.
Utah, for example, has emerged as a tourist hotspot in recent years – with millions of visitors flocking each year to local destinations like Salt Lake City to see the sights and take in the great outdoors. And Upper Midscale hotels in the region are reaping the benefits. In H1 2024, the overall number of visits to Upper Midscale chains in Salt Lake City was 69.4% higher than in H1 2019. Though some of this increase can be attributed to local chain expansion, the average number of visits to each individual Upper Midscale location in the area also rose by 12.5% over the same period.
Palm Bay, FL (the Space Coast) – another tourist favorite – is experiencing a similar trend. Between H1 2019 and H1 2024, overall visits to local Upper Midscale hotel chains grew by 36.4% – while the average number of visits per location increased a substantial 16.9%. Given this strong demand, it may come as no surprise that the area is undergoing a hotel construction boom. Upper Midscale hotels in other areas with flourishing tourism sectors, like San Diego, CA and Richmond, VA, are seeing similar trends, with increases in both overall visits and and in the average number of visits per location.
Though Economy chains have underperformed versus other categories in recent years, the tier does feature some bright spots. Some extended-stay brands in the Economy tier – hotels with perks and amenities that cater to the needs of longer-stay travelers – are succeeding despite category headwinds.
Choice Hotels’ portfolio, for example, includes WoodSpring Suites, an Economy chain offering affordable extended-stay accommodations in 35 states. In H1 2024, the chain drew 7.7% more visits than in the first half of 2019 – even as the wider Economy sector continued to languish. InTown Suites, another Economy extended stay chain, saw visits increase by 8.9% over the same period.
And location intelligence shows that the success of these two chains is likely being driven, in part, by their growing appeal to young, well-educated professionals. In H1 2019, households belonging to Spatial.ai: PersonaLive’s “Young Professionals” segment made up 9.6% of WoodSpring Suites’ captured market. But by H1 2024, the share of this group jumped dramatically to 13.3%. At the same time, InTown Suites saw its share of Young Professionals increase from 12.0% to 13.4%.
Whether due to an affinity for prolonged “workcations” (so-called “bleisure” excursions) or an embrace of super-commuting, younger guests have emerged as key drivers of growth for the extended stay segment. And by offering low–cost accommodations that meet the needs of these travelers, Economy chains can continue to grow their share of the pie.
The hospitality industry recovery continues – led by Upper Midscale Hotels, which offer elevated experiences that don’t break the bank. But today’s market has room for other tiers as well. By keeping abreast of local visitation patterns and changing consumer profiles, hotels across chain scales can personalize the visitor experience and drive customer satisfaction.
The past few years have provided the tourism sector with a multitude of headwinds, from pandemic-induced lockdowns to persistent inflation and a rise in extreme weather events. But despite these challenges, people are more excited than ever to travel – more than half of respondents to a recent survey are planning on increasing their travel budgets in the coming months.
And while revenge travel to overseas destinations is still very much alive and well, the often high costs associated with traveling abroad are shaping the way people choose to travel. Domestic travel and tourism are seeing significant growth as more affordable alternatives.
This white paper takes a closer look at two of the most popular domestic tourism destinations in the country – New York City and Los Angeles. Over the past year, both cities have continued to be leading tourism hotspots, offering a wealth of attractions for visitors. What does tourism to these two cities look like in 2024, and what has changed since before the pandemic? How have inflation and rising airfare prices affected the demographics and psychographics of visitors to these major hubs?
Analyzing the distribution of domestic tourists across CBSAs nationwide from May 2023 to April 2024 reveals New York and Los Angeles to be two of the nation’s most popular destinations. (Tourists include overnight visitors staying in a given CBSA for up to 31 days).
The New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA metro area drew the largest share of domestic tourists of any CBSA during the analyzed period (2.7%), followed closely by the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA CBSA (2.5%). Other domestic tourism hotspots included Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL (tied for second place with 2.5% of visitors), Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX (1.9%), Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV (1.8%), Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL (1.8%), and Chicago-Naperville, Elgin, IL-IN-WI (1.6%).
The Big Apple. The City That Never Sleeps. Empire City. Whatever it’s called, New York City remains one of the most well-known tourist destinations in the world. And for many Americans, New York is the perfect place for an extended weekend getaway – or for a multi-day excursion to see the sights.
But where do these NYC-bound vacationers come from? Diving into the data on the origin of visitors making medium-length trips to New York City (three to seven nights) reveals that increasingly, these domestic tourists are coming from nearby metro areas.
Between 2018-2019 and 2023-2024, for example, the number of tourists visiting New York City from the Philadelphia metro area increased by 19.2%.
The number of tourists coming from the Boston and Washington, D.C metro areas, and from the New York CBSA itself (New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA) also increased over the same period.
Meanwhile, further-away CBSAs like San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA, Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA, and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL fed fewer tourists to NYC in 2023-2024 than they did pre-pandemic. It seems that residents of these more distant metro areas are opting for vacation destinations closer to home to avoid the high costs of air travel.
Diving even deeper into the characteristics of visitors taking medium-length trips to New York City reveals another demographic shift: Tourists staying between three and seven nights in the Big Apple are skewing younger.
Between 2018-2019 and 2023-2024, the share of visitors to New York City from areas with median ages under 30 grew from 2.1% to 4.5%. Meanwhile, the share of visitors from areas with median ages between 31 and 40 increased from 34.3% to 37.7%.
The impact of this trend is already being felt in the Big Apple, with The Broadway League reporting that the average age of audiences to its shows during the 2022- 2023 season was the youngest it had been in 20 seasons.
The shift towards younger tourists can also be seen when examining the psychographic makeup of visitors to popular attractions in New York City. Analyzing the captured markets of major NYC landmarks with data from Spatial.ai’s PersonaLive dataset reveals an increase in households belonging to the “Educated Urbanites” segment between 2018-2019 and 2023-2024.
These well-educated, young singles are increasingly visiting iconic NYC venues such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The American Museum of Natural History, and the Statue of Liberty. This shift highlights the growing popularity of these attractions among young, educated singles, reflecting a broader trend of increased domestic tourism among this demographic.
New York City’s tourism sector is adapting to meet the changing needs of travelers, fueled increasingly by younger visitors who may be unable to take a costly international vacation. How have travel patterns to Los Angeles changed in response to increasing travel costs?
While New York City is the East Coast’s tourism hotspot, Los Angeles takes center stage on the West Coast. And as overseas travel has become increasingly out of reach for Americans with less discretionary income, the share of domestic tourists originating from areas with lower HHIs has risen.
Before the pandemic, 57.6% of visitors to LA came from affluent areas with median household incomes (HHIs) of over $90K/year. But by 2023-2024, this share decreased to 50.7%. Over the same period, the share of visitors from areas with median HHIs between $41K and $60K increased from 9.7% to 12.5%, while the share of visitors from areas with HHIs between $61K and $90K rose from 32.1% to 35.8%.
Diving into the psychographic makeup of visitors to popular Los Angeles attractions – Universal Studios Hollywood, Disneyland California, the Santa Monica Pier, and Griffith Observatory – also reflects the above-mentioned shift in HHI. The captured markets of these attractions had higher shares of middle-income households belonging to the “Family Union” psychographic segment in 2023-2024 than in 2018-2019.
Experian: Mosaic defines this segment as “middle income, middle-aged families living in homes supported by solid blue-collar occupations.” Pre-pandemic, 16.0% of visitors to Universal Studios Hollywood came from trade areas with high shares of “Family Union” households. This number jumped to 18.8% over the past year. A similar trend occurred at Disneyland, Santa Monica Pier, and Griffith Observatory.
And like in New York City, growing numbers of visitors to Los Angeles appear to be coming from nearby areas. Between 2018-2019 and 2023-2024, the share of in-state visitors to major Los Angeles attractions increased substantially – as people likely sought to cut costs by keeping things local.
Pre-pandemic, for example, 68.9% of visitors to Universal Studios Hollywood came from within California – a share that increased to 72.0% over the past year. Similarly, 59.7% of Griffith Observatory visitors in 2018-2019 came from within the state – and by 2023-2024, that number grew to 64.7%.
Even when times are tight, people love to travel – and New York and Los Angeles are two of their favorite destinations. With prices for airfare, hotels, and dining out increasing across the board, younger and more price-conscious households are adapting, choosing to visit nearby cities and enjoy attractions closer to home. And as the tourism industry continues its recovery, understanding emerging visitation trends can help stakeholders meet travelers where they are.
