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Photo Image Credit: Orange County Register
We know there’s appetite for Six Flags Fright Fest, Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights, Knotts’ Scary Farm, and Halloween Screams at Walt Disney World, but one innovative car wash takes you to another level, inviting you to go on a “nightmarish journey that turns an ordinary car wash into a realm of terror.” Big Wave Car Wash in Anaheim is one of the locations, and it’s immediately clear that this spooky spectacular is a hit. Compared to another local car wash competitor, we see that the addition of the scary performers nearly triples Big Wave’s traffic, especially Thursday-Sunday with the October kickoff.
We compared the Spatial.ai PersonaLive segments for Big Wave and Drive Thru Express Car Wash from January-September 2024 vs from October 1-19, 2024. In the month of October alone, we saw over 4x more visits from Near-Urban Diverse families and from Melting Pot Families to the haunted carwash compared to the entire rest of the year. Among Young Urban Singles, there was a 2.5x multiplier for just the three weeks in October compared to January-September. And while Ultra Wealthy Families normally only make up 1% of the visits, during this spooky spectacular, they accounted for 5%. Now you know where to go when junior is bored–head for the haunted car wash!
No surprise, the trade area drawn during the month of October is significantly larger as people come from a total trade area of 53 sq miles during this event (October 1-19, 2024 in red), compared to 12 sq miles the rest of the year (January-September 2024 in blue).
Over the past two weeks, the home industry has been abuzz with news from the remnants of Bed Bath & Beyond. A retailer that stood as the leader among specialty players continues to try and find new life in physical retail despite the closure of the original chain and its subsidiaries. After a year back in business, buybuy BABY, under new management, announced that it would be closing its 10 reopened locations.
Over at Beyond Inc., the new holding company for Overstock.com and the newly reformed Bed Bath & Beyond brand, they announced new partnerships with both Kirkland’s and The Container Store. The former partnership is going to help bring the brand back to physical retail with the creation of five Bed Bath & Beyond “neighborhood” small format stores, with locations to be announced; stores will be scouted, developed and operated by Kirkland’s. In the partnership with The Container Store, Beyond Inc. made a financial investment in the retailer and will allow The Container Store to leverage the brand’s assets, name, assortment and data; shop-in-shops also appear to be a part of this new partnership.
The home industry has been incredibly challenged in the post-pandemic period (below). However, as the category became further consolidated over the past few years, these new partnerships could help to revitalize all three brands, all of which have a strong brand identity with consumers. These partnerships also allow the brands to harness their strengths to benefit multiple banners.
How closely aligned are these brands? Kirkland’s tends to focus on furniture and furnishings, The Container Store handles all things organization, and the Bed Bath & Beyond brand name still carries weight as the undisputed leader in all things home.
Looking at PersonaLive’s demographic and psychographic segmentation of visitors to all three brands in 2022, before Bed Bath & Beyond’s closure the next year, there are some clear alignments and also opportunities to reach new visitors through the partnerships. Kirkland outperformed Bed Bath & Beyond with suburban cohorts such as Wealthy Suburban Families, Upper Suburban Diverse Families and Blue Collar Suburbs.
Through the lens of The Container Store, it provides a lot more opportunity for Beyond Inc. to reach higher concentrations of visitors from segments such as Ultra Wealthy Families, Educated Urbanites and Young Professionals. Looking at the partnerships with both Kirkland’s and the Container Store as a collective strategy, Beyond Inc. can capitalize on the migration to suburban communities by consumers and higher income households with the new brand.
Another positive sign for the partnerships is the high levels of cross visitation between the retailers before the closing of Bed Bath & Beyond. In 2022, Bed Bath & Beyond’s final full year of operation, 20% of visitors to Kirkland’s and almost a quarter of visitors to The Container Store cross visited Bed Bath & Beyond.
In theory, both partnerships will allow Bed Bath & Beyond to return to physical retail in alignment with both consumers and the current retail landscape. Industry specific retailers and incredibly important to the health and long term success of the industry, and the idea of welcoming back a beloved brand is exciting. It should be interesting to see the new small format stores and installations as the debut and look at the impacts of the partnership on the broader home category.
The holiday shopping season is nearly upon us – and one category that always benefits from holiday sales is apparel. So with Q4 underway, we checked in western wear leader Boot Barn and discount footwear chain DSW (Design Shoe Warehouse, owned by Designer Brands, Inc.) to see how they fared in Q3 2024 – and what awaits them as Black Friday approaches.
Boot Barn and DSW – two very different shoe retailers – have been thriving in recent months. Since May 2024, the two chains have seen sustained monthly year-over-year (YoY) visit growth, finishing out Q3 2024 with visit upticks of 10.8% (Boot Barn) and 10.5% (DSW).
For Boot Barn in particular, Q3’s robust visit growth was at least partially driven by the chain’s aggressive expansion strategy: Between July 2023 and June 2024, Boot Barn opened some 50 new stores – and plans to open dozens more over the coming year. But foot traffic data also shows that the chain has succeeded in growing its footprint without significantly diluting traffic at existing locations. During Q3, the average number of visits to each Boot Barn location dipped just slightly below 2023 levels (2.8%), even as YoY visits to the chain surged by 10.8%.
DSW, for its part saw significant YoY visit growth throughout Q3, despite a store count that has remained relatively stable. As a store that offers shoppers access to high-quality, name-brand products at affordable prices, DSW lets consumers trade down while splurging at the same time.
DSW isn’t called a warehouse for nothing. The typical DSW store spans about 25,000 square feet (though the chain has begun experimenting with smaller formats) – compared to just 12,000 - 14,000 for Boot Barn. But despite the smaller size of Boot Barn’s locations, visitors to the western wear chain tend to spend more time in-store than visitors to DSW. Since 2022, average visitor dwell times at Boot Barn have ranged between 34.9 and 35.8 minutes, while dwell times at DSW have hovered between 32.1 and 32.8 minutes.
Customers at DSW may be more likely to know in advance what they’re looking for, making a bee-line for the discounted footwear they’ve been waiting to get their hands on. Visitors to Boot Barn, on the other hand, may spend more time browsing the brand’s wider selection of merchandise.
The difference in visitor dwell times may also be partially due to Boot Barn’s firmer positioning as a weekend destination: Over the past twelve months (October 2023 - September 2024), 59.5% of visits to Boot Barn took place between Fridays and Sundays, compared to 56.3% for DSW.
Still, visitors to both chains tend to remain in-store for more than half an hour – revealing a highly engaged customer base eager to explore the brands’ varied offerings.
With a strong Q3 2024 under their belts, what can DSW and Boot Barn expect this holiday season?
Looking at weekly fluctuations in visits to Boot Barn and DSW in 2022 and 2023 – compared to yearly weekly averages – reveals another striking difference between the two chains: Visits to Boot Barn peak in November and December each year, as customers descend upon the chain to purchase western-themed gifts for loved ones. DSW, on the other hand, sees greater visit boosts in spring, perhaps buoyed by shoppers updating their wardrobes in anticipation of warmer weather.
But zooming in on the two chains’ busiest days of the year tells a somewhat different story. Even though DSW experiences a more muted holiday shopping season, the shoe leader – like Boot Barn – draws its biggest crowds of the year on Black Friday. On November 24th, 2023, visits to DSW jumped 134.5% compared to the chain’s daily average for the 12-month period from October 2023 to September 2024 – a smaller spike than that seen by Boot Barn, but significant nonetheless.
After that, however, the chain’s visitation patterns diverged. For DSW, the next eight busiest days of the year were all Saturdays in Spring – including the Saturday before Mother’s Day (May 11th) and the Saturday before Easter (March 30th). For Boot Barn, on the other hand, December shopping days – including Super Saturday (December 23rd) – drove the biggest foot traffic spikes.
With holiday shopping just around the corner, DSW and Boot Barn both appear poised to enjoy a healthy Q4 – each in their own way. Which other footwear and apparel brands are likely to succeed this holiday season?
Follow Placer.ai's data-driven retail analyses to find out.
This blog includes data from Placer.ai Data Version 2.1, which introduces a new dynamic model that stabilizes daily fluctuations in the panel, improving accuracy and alignment with external ground truth sources.
Holiday shopping creep is upon us once again. Though Black Friday is still several weeks away, a shorter holiday shopping window (just 27 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas) has many retailers more eager than ever to get the ball rolling. And with Amazon’s October Prime Big Deal Days the focus of much consumer excitement, major brick-and-mortar players like Walmart, Target, and Best Buy have launched important fall sales events of their own.
Among these pre-holiday promotions, Target’s October Circle Week stands out as a favorite, offering millions of shoppers deep discounts across a wide range of categories, from household essentials to early holiday gifts. What can location analytics tell us about how this year’s Circle Week (October 6th-12th) resonated with consumers? We dove into the data to find out.
Looking first at weekly year-over-year (YoY) visits to Target shows the power of this major sales event to get shoppers moving. Following a successful back-to-school shopping season, visits began to taper off in September. But during the week of October 7th, which included most of Circle Week, visits began to trend back upwards – perhaps signaling consumer responsiveness to early holiday discounts.
A more direct comparison between this year’s fall Target Circle Week and the one held in October 2023 (October 1st to 7th of last year) shows foot traffic up 0.7% YoY, further highlighting consumer resilience in 2024. Though the increase is a modest one, it is no small feat in a retail environment still characterized by high prices and cautious consumer sentiment.
Drilling down deeper into the data for different regions of the country paints a somewhat more nuanced picture. While in some areas of the country – particularly the Midwest and Northeast – Target Circle Week drew fewer visits this year than last (in most cases a decline of less than 3.0%), in others foot traffic increased substantially. In major southern markets like Texas and Florida, visits rose 4.2% and 3.8%, respectively. South Carolina, which has emerged as a major domestic migration hotspot in recent years, saw traffic jump an impressive 12.6%. And in California, Target’s biggest market, visits increased 1.0% YoY.
But consumer behavior during Target Circle Week doesn’t just vary across regions – it also changes throughout the week-long sale period.
In both 2023 and 2024, Target’s October Circle Week started with a bang, as eager customers flocked to the chain to get first dibs on special sale items. Visits on launch day increased 5.0% in 2023 and 4.6% in 2024, compared to a January 1st to October 13th daily visit average. Activity then tapered off during the work week, with Monday - Thursday visits hovering just below daily visit averages for those days of the week. But on Friday and Saturday, foot traffic picked up again as shoppers utilized their time off to hit the sales.
Early October holiday sales are quickly becoming de rigueur – and an important bellwether of overall Q4 performance. Target’s successful Circle Week this fall signals consumer resilience in the face of headwinds – though engagement levels varied throughout the country. How will the all-important Q4 continue to play out for brick-and-mortar retailers this year?
Follow Placer.ai’s data-driven retail analyses to find out.
This blog includes data from Placer.ai Data Version 2.1, which introduces a new dynamic model that stabilizes daily fluctuations in the panel, improving accuracy and alignment with external ground truth sources.
Chipotle, Wingstop, and Shake Shack have emerged as restaurant leaders, thriving and outperforming the wider fast-casual and quick-service restaurant (QSR) categories. How did these chains perform in Q3 2024? We dove into the data to find out.
Chipotle, Wingstop, and Shake Shack have become some of the most popular dining chains in the nation, each within its own respective niche: Chipotle excels at health-focused Tex-Mex meals, Wingstop serves up chicken wings and other game-day style dishes, and Shake Shack is known for its burgers and frozen custards. All three chains are leaning into growing demand for their offerings by adding new restaurants at a brisk clip. And for all three, the investment in fleet expansion is paying off, driving double-digit YoY visit growth.
Of the three chains, Wingstop enjoyed the strongest YoY growth between June and September of this year, with visits rising 16.5% to 33.5% throughout the analyzed period. Shake Shack, for its part, saw visits increase between 12.4% and 25.9%. Meanwhile, Chipotle, continuing several years of visit growth, posted 10.0% to 12.9% YoY boosts. In contrast, the overall quick-service and fast-casual restaurant segments saw much more muted performance, with QSR visits hovering at or slightly below 2023 levels and fast-casual segments seeing modest visit upticks.
One key driver behind the significant foot traffic growth for these three chains is their aggressive expansion. Wingstop, which saw the largest year-over-year (YoY) increase in foot traffic, opened some 138 new restaurants in 2024 alone, and hopes to open around 300 by year’s end. Chipotle has also been expanding rapidly, with around 52 new stores in 2024 so far and more on the way. Shake Shack, aiming to open 80 new locations this year, is similarly focused on growth.
A closer look at shifts in the average number of visits to the chains’ individual locations shows that this expansion is being met with strong demand. Chipotle and Wingstop saw monthly YoY visit-per-location increases throughout the analyzed period, while Shake Shack saw increases between June and August and experienced just a minor dip in September.
These foot traffic trends – both across the chains and at individual locations – indicate that the new stores are successfully attracting steady customer interest.
Another key factor driving success for the three chains is their pivot towards convenient takeaway options. Chipotle has focused on expanding its Chipotlane drive-thru service, while Wingstop has invested in an in-store digital platform meant to streamline the ordering process. And despite Shake Shack’s “anti fast-food” identity, the chain has also embraced drive-thrus and ordering kiosks to speed up service.
The data suggests that consumers appreciate the increased convenience of these quicker options: In Q3 2024, short visits (10 minutes or less) to Chipotle, Wingstop, and Shake Shack surged between 17.0% and 25.5% compared to Q3 2023.
For Chipotle and Shake Shack, short visits increased significantly more than extended ones in Q3, likely due in part to the brands’ intense focus on drive-thrus: Of the 271 restaurants opened by Chipotle in 2023, 238 included Chipotlanes. And since adding its first drive-thru in 2022, Shake Shack has expanded this option to more than thirty locations. For Wingstop, longer visits increased somewhat more YoY than shorter ones – but in the wake of the chain’s rapid expansion, short and long visits both increased more than 20% YoY.
Chipotle, Wingstop, and Shake Shack are succeeding, consistently increasing foot traffic and visits per location. Through strategic expansion and the adoption of drive-through and online ordering, these brands have firmly established their presence in the fast-casual and quick-service dining landscape.
Will the three restaurants continue to drive visit growth? Visit Placer.ai to find out.
This blog includes data from Placer.ai Data Version 2.1, which introduces a new dynamic model that stabilizes daily fluctuations in the panel, improving accuracy and alignment with external ground truth sources.
With Q3 2024 in the rearview mirror, we dove into the data to check in with two smoothie and bowl spots that are firmly in expansion mode – Playa Bowls and Tropical Smoothie Cafe. What lies behind their smashing success? And what awaits them in Q4?
We dove into the data to find out.
Looking first at quarterly YoY visit trends shows both Playa Bowls and Tropical Smoothie Cafe experiencing substantial year-over-year visit growth during the first three quarters of 2024 – driven in part by their rapidly growing fleets. In Q1 2024, Playa Bowls – recently acquired by Sycamore Partners – saw a YoY foot traffic jump of 8.7%. And Tropical Smoothie Cafe, acquired by Blackstone this year, saw a YoY visit boost of 8.7%. For both chains, this positive trajectory continued, though at a more moderate pace, through Q3 2024.
What's behind the fast expansion and visit growth of these smoothie leaders? With high food prices still weighing on consumers, and health still top of mind for many, brands that provide nutritious, affordable indulgences are poised to win. Those that do so while meeting the rising demand for quick and convenient dining options are especially well-positioned to thrive.
And drilling down deeper into the data for Playa Bowls and Tropical Smoothie Cafe shows that the two chains’ outsize success is being fueled, in large part, by customers dropping by for a quick pick-me-up on the go, rather than a sit-down meal.
In Q3 2024, the number of short visits to Playa Bowls (i.e. those lasting less than 10 minutes) increased 9.4% YoY, while longer visits increased just 4.5%. (In Q3 2024, short visits accounted for 31.2% of visits to Playa Bowls, compared with 30.3% in Q3 2023). This suggests that robust demand for off-premises dining has emerged as a major driver of growth for the brand.
A similar trend emerged at Tropical Smoothie Cafe, where nearly half of all Q3 2024 visits (48.4%) lasted less than 10 minutes – likely due to the chain’s ubiquitous drive-thrus. Short visits to Tropical Smoothie Cafe increased 6.0% YoY in Q3, while more extended visits increased 3.3%.
Playa Bowls and Tropical Smoothie Cafe have also fueled success by marking special calendar days with limited-time promotions.
For Playa Bowls, for example, the busiest day of 2024 so far was April 6th – National Acai Day – when the juice bar offered rewards members $5 off any acai bowl. The promotion was wildly successful, fueling a remarkable 122.7% visit surge compared to a year-to-date (January to September) daily average.
For Tropical Smoothie Cafe, it was National Flip Flop Day (yes, that’s a thing) that drew major crowds this year. On May 29th, 2024, the brand marked the occasion with free Island Punch Smoothies for guests who visited participating locations while wearing flip flops. And the promotion was a hit, generating enough excitement to drive a 94.0% visit spike for the brand.
Successful harnessing of the growing demand for convenient, healthy, and affordable off-premises dining options together with unbeatable limited-time promotions have helped propel growth for both Playa Bowls and Tropical Smoothie Cafe.
Will visits to the two chains continue to surge in the months ahead?
Follow Placer.ai’s data driven dining analyses to find out.
This blog includes data from Placer.ai Data Version 2.1, which introduces a new dynamic model that stabilizes daily fluctuations in the panel, improving accuracy and alignment with external ground truth sources.
In today’s retail landscape, consumer behavior is influenced by a multitude of factors, directly impacting the success of products and brands. This report explores the latest trends in value perception, shopping behavior, and media consumption that impact which brands consumers are most likely to engage with – and how.
In the apparel space, consumers continue to prioritize value and unique merchandise.
Analysis of visits to various apparel categories reveals a steady increase in the share of visits going to off-price retailers and thrift stores at the expense of traditional apparel chains.
And the popularity of off-price chains and thrift stores appears to be widespread across multiple audience segments. Analyzing trade area data with the Experian: Mosaic psychographic dataset reveals a clear preference for second-hand retailers among both younger (ages 25-30) and older (51+) consumer segments. Meanwhile, middle-class parents aged 36-45 with teenagers – the “Family Union” segment – are significantly more likely to shop at off-price apparel stores, highlighting their emphasis on buying new, while saving both time and money.
This suggests that the powerful blend of treasure-hunting and deep value, central to both the off-price and thrift experiences, is driving traffic from a variety of audiences, and that other industries could benefit from combining affordability with the allure of unique products.
Diving deeper into the location intelligence for the apparel space further highlights thrift and off-price’s broad appeal – and that a combination of quality and price motivates consumers to visit different retailers.
Between 2019 and 2024, the share of Bloomingdale’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstrom visitors that also visited a Goodwill or Ross Dress for Less increased significantly.
And while this could mean that the current economic climate is causing some higher-income consumers to trade down to lower-priced retailers, it could also be that consumers are prioritizing sustainability and seeking value in terms of “bang for their buck” – shopping a combination of retailers depending on the cost versus quality considerations for each purchase.
Consumers increasingly expect to shop on their own terms, opting for a more flexible shopping experience that blurs the lines between traditional retail channels and categories.
Superstores and warehouse stores, for example, often evoke the image of navigating aisle after aisle of nearly every product imaginable – a time-consuming endeavor given the sheer size of their stores. But the latest location intelligence shows that more consumers are turning to these retailers for super-quick shopping trips.
Between 2019 and 2024, the share of visits lasting less than ten minutes at Target, Walmart, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Sam’s Club, and to a lesser extent Costco, rose steadily – perhaps due to increased use of flexible BOPIS (buy online, pick-up in-store) and curbside pick-up options. These stores may also be seeing a rise in consumers popping in to grab just a few items as-needed or to cherry-pick particular deals to complement their larger online shopping orders.
This trend highlights the demand for frictionless store experiences that allow visitors to conveniently shop or pick up orders even at large physical retailers.
And the breaking down of traditional retail silos isn’t limited to big-box chains. Diving into the data for quick service restaurants (QSR), fast casual chains, and grocery stores indicates that more consumers are also looking for new ways to grab a convenient bite.
Since 2019, grocery stores have been claiming an increasingly large share of the midday short visit pie – i.e. visits between 11:00 AM 3:00 PM lasting less than ten minutes – at the expense of QSR chains. This suggests that consumers seeking quick and affordable lunches are increasingly turning to grocery stores to pick up a few items or take advantage of self-service food bars. Notably, the rise in supermarket lunching hasn’t come at the expense of fast-casual restaurants, which have also upped their quick-service games – and have seen a small increase in their share of the quick lunchtime crowd over the past five years.
While some of QSR’s relative decline in short lunchtime visits could be due to discontent with rising fast-food prices, it’s clear that an increasing share of consumers see grocery and fast-casual chains as viable options during the lunch rush.
In 2025, tapping into hot trends and creating viral moments are among the most powerful tools for amplifying promotions and driving foot traffic to physical stores.
Retailers across categories have successfully harnessed the power of pop culture collaborations to generate excitement – and visits – by leaning into trending themes. On October 8th, 2024, for example, Wendy’s launched its epic Krabby Patty Collab, inspired by the beloved SpongeBob franchise. And during the week of the offering, the chain experienced a remarkable 21.5% increase in foot traffic compared to an average week that year.
Similarly, Crumbl – adept at creating buzz through manufactured scarcity – sparked a frenzy with the debut of its exclusive Olivia Rodrigo GUTS cookie. Initially available only at select locations near the artist’s concert venues, the cookie was launched nationwide for a limited time from August 19th to 24th, 2024. This buzz-driven release resulted in a 27.7% traffic surge during the week of the launch, as fans rushed to get a taste of the star-studded treat.
And it’s not just dining chains benefiting from these pop-culture moments. On February 16th, 2025, Bath & Body Works launched a Disney Princess-inspired fragrance line, perfect for fans of Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Moana, and Tiana. The collaboration resonated, fueling a 23.2% visit spike for the chain.
While tapping into existing pop-culture trends has the ability to drive traffic, so does creating a new one. Analysis of movie theater visits on National Popcorn Day (Sunday, January 19th, 2025) shows how initiating a trend can spur social media engagement and impact in-person traffic to physical retail spaces.
National Popcorn Day was a successful promotional holiday across the movie theater industry in 2025. Both Regal Cinemas and AMC Theatres offered popcorn-based promotions on the day, but Cinemark’s “Bring Your Own Bucket” campaign, in particular, appears to have spurred a significant foot traffic boost during the event.
Visits to Cinemark on National Popcorn Day in 2025 increased 57.5% relative to the Sunday visit average for January and February 2025, as movie-goers showed off their out-of-the-bucket popcorn receptacles on social media. Clearly, by starting a trend that invited creativity and expression, Cinemark was able to amplify the impact of its National Popcorn Day promotion.
Location intelligence illuminates some of the key trends shaping consumer behavior in 2025. The data reveals that value-driven shopping, demand for flexibility across touchpoints, and the power of unique retail moments have the power to drive consumer engagement and the success of retail categories, brands, and products.
Placer.ai observes a panel of mobile devices in order to extrapolate and generate visitation insights for a variety of locations across the U.S. This panel covers only visitors from within the United States and does not represent or take into account international visitors.
Downtown districts in the nation’s major cities attract domestic travelers all year long with their iconic sights, lively entertainment, and diverse dining offerings. But each hub follows its own rhythm, shaped by distinct seasonal peaks and dips in visitor flow.
This white paper examines downtown hotel visitation patterns in four of the nation’s most popular destinations for domestic tourists: Miami, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. Focusing on 20 downtown hotels in each city, the analysis explores seasonal variations in domestic travel, city-specific dynamics, and differentiating factors.
Domestic tourism has rebounded strongly in recent years, and hotels in Miami and Chicago have been the biggest beneficiaries. In 2024, visits to analyzed hotels in each of these cities’ downtown areas grew by 8.9% and 7.4%, respectively, compared to 2023. Meanwhile, hotels in downtown and midtown Manhattan saw a more modest 2.0% increase, while Los Angeles experienced a slight year-over-year (YoY) decline in downtown hotel visits.
One factor that may be driving Miami and Chicago’s stronger performance is their higher proportion of long-distance visitors, defined as those visiting from over 250 miles away. Miami remains a top destination for snowbirds and spring breakers, while Chicago serves as a cultural and entertainment hub for the sprawling Midwest. These long-distance leisure travelers may be more likely to splurge on downtown hotel stays during their trips, helping drive hotel visit growth in the two cities.
By contrast, hotels in the Los Angeles and Manhattan city centers drew lower shares of domestic travelers coming from less than 250 miles away. These shorter-haul domestic tourists may be less likely to splurge on downtown hotels than those taking longer vacations. Both cities are also surrounded by numerous regional getaway options that can draw long-haul leisure travelers away from their downtown cores.
Each of the four analyzed cities has its own unique ebbs and flows – and city center hotel visits reflect these patterns. Miami, with its warm, sunny climate, experiences influxes of tourists during the winter and spring, with March seeing the biggest jump in downtown hotel visits last year (13.0% above the monthly visit average). Chicago, which thrives in the summer with its many festivals and events, saw its biggest downtown hotel visit bump in August. Meanwhile, Manhattan experienced a major uptick in December, likely fueled by holiday tourism and New Year celebrations, and Los Angeles visits were highest in the summertime.
What drives these seasonal visit peaks? Miami has long been a top tourism destination, especially in early spring, when snowbirds and spring breakers flock to the city for sun and relaxation. In recent years, the city has seen a rise in short-term domestic tourism, suggesting that the city is becoming increasingly popular for weekend getaways. According to the Placer.ai Tourism Dashboard, the share of domestic tourists staying just one or two nights grew from 71.7% in March 2022 to 78.3% in March 2024.
This shift aligns with an impressive increase in the magnitude of downtown Miami’s springtime hotel visit peak: In March 2022, visits to downtown hotels were 5.0% above the monthly average for the year, a share that more than doubled by 2024 to 12.9%.
These numbers may mean that more people are choosing to head to Miami for a quick break from the cold – and staying in downtown hotels to make the most of their short getaway.
Chicago’s major August visit spike was likely driven by the Windy City’s impressive lineup of major summer festivals, from Lollapalooza to the Chicago Air and Water Show, which draw thousands of attendees from across the country.
Lollapalooza fueled the largest visit spike to the city – between Thursday, August 1st and Sunday, August 4th, visits to downtown Chicago hotels surged between 51.1% and 63.8% above 2024 daily averages for those days of the week. The Air and Water Show and the Chicago Jazz Festival also generated significant hotel visit increases – highlighting the boost these events bring to the city’s tourism and hospitality sector.
The Big Apple draws a diverse mix of visitors throughout the year. But in December – the city’s peak tourist season – visitors pour in from all over the country to skate in Rockefeller Center, browse Fifth Avenue’s festive window displays and experience the city’s unique holiday magic.
And analyzing data from hotels in midtown and downtown Manhattan reveals a striking shift in the types of visitors who stay in the heart of NYC during the holiday season. While visitors from other urban centers dominated downtown hotel stays throughout most of the year – accounting for 47.9% of visits from January to November 2024 – their share dropped to 42.0% in December 2024. Meanwhile, the share of guests from suburban areas and small towns rose from 37.3% to 41.0%, and the share of guests from rural and semi-rural areas nearly doubled, from 3.5% to 6.1%.
These patterns suggest that, though Manhattan typically attracts a wide range of visitors, the holiday season is uniquely appealing to tourists from smaller towns and suburban areas. Understanding these trends can provide crucial context for hotels and civic stakeholders alike as they work to maximize the opportunities presented by the city’s December visit surge.
Los Angeles hotels also experience significant demographic shifts during peak season. In July, visits to downtown LA hotels surged by 15.3% relative to the 2024 monthly visit average. And a closer look at audience segmentation data suggests a corresponding surge in the share of "Flourishing Families" – an Experian: Mosaic segment consisting of affluent, middle-aged households with children. Throughout the year, "Flourishing Families" comprised between 7.7% and 8.7% of the census block groups (CBGs) driving visits to downtown LA hotels. But in July, this share jumped to 9.9%.
These families may be taking advantage of summer vacations to enjoy Los Angeles’ cultural attractions and entertainment. Hotels and city stakeholders who understand the appeal the city holds for this demographic can better cater to them through family-friendly promotions and strategic marketing efforts to target these households.
Downtowns are making a comeback – and hotels in the heart of the nation’s major tourist hubs are reaping the benefits. By understanding who frequents these downtown hotels and when, local businesses and civic leaders can optimize their resource management and strategic planning to make the most of these opportunities.
The New York office scene is buzzing once again, as companies from JPMorgan to Meta double down on return-to-office (RTO) mandates. But just how did New York office foot traffic fare in 2024? How did Big Apple office foot traffic compare to that of other major business hubs nationwide? And how is New York’s office recovery impacting post-COVID trends like the TGIF work week? Are office visits still concentrated mid-week, or are people coming in more on Fridays and Mondays? And how has Manhattan’s RTO affected local commuting patterns?
We dove into the data to find out.
In 2024, New York City cemented its position as the nationwide leader in office recovery. Thanks in part to remote work crackdowns by banking behemoths like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan, visits to NYC office buildings in 2024 were just 13.1% below pre-pandemic (2019) levels.
For comparison, Miami’s office foot traffic remained 16.2% below pre-pandemic levels, while Atlanta, Washington D.C., and Boston saw significantly larger gaps at 28.6%, 37.8%, and 43.9%, respectively.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the Big Apple’s robust year-over-five-year (Yo5Y) recovery, the pace of year-over-year (YoY) visit growth to NYC office buildings was somewhat slower in 2024 than in other major East Coast business centers. Still, New York’s YoY office recovery rate of 12.4% outpaced the nationwide baseline, and came in just slightly below Washington, D.C.’s 15.2% and Atlanta’s 14.6%.
Interestingly, New York’s return to office has not led to a significant retreat from the TGIF work week that emerged during COVID. In 2024, just 11.9% of weekday (Monday to Friday) visits to NYC offices took place on Fridays – only slightly more than the 11.5% recorded in 2023 and significantly below the pre-pandemic baseline of 17.2%.
Meanwhile, Monday has quietly regained its footing as the dreaded start of the New York work week. After dropping significantly in 2022 and 2023, the share of weekday office visits taking place on Mondays rebounded to 18.2% in 2024 – just slightly below 2019’s 19.5%. Still, Tuesday remained the Big Apple’s busiest in-office day of the week last year, accounting for nearly a quarter (24.6%) of weekday NYC office foot traffic.
And diving into Yo5Y data for each day of the work week shows just how much New York’s overall recovery is driven by mid-week visits – and especially Tuesday ones. In 2024, Friday visits to NYC office buildings were down 40.2% compared to 2019. But on Tuesdays, visits were essentially on par with pre-pandemic levels (-0.3%), even as nationwide office visits remained 24.6% below 2019.
Another post-COVID trend that has shown staying power in New York is the growing share of office visits coming from employees who live nearby. As hybrid schedules become the norm, it seems that those commuting more frequently are often just a short subway ride -or even a stroll- away.
The share of NYC office workers coming from less than five miles away, for example, has risen steadily since COVID, reaching 46.0% in 2024. Over the same period, the share of workers coming from 5-10 miles, 10-15 miles, or 25+ miles away has declined.
Looking at commuting trends across the East Coast helps put New York City’s shift into perspective. In 2019, NYC’s share of nearby commuters was on par with Washington, D.C. and slightly below Boston. But while both cities experienced moderate increases in local commuters between 2019 and 2024, New York pulled ahead, outpacing all other analyzed cities in its share of nearby office workers last year.
Miami and Atlanta – two other standout cities in office recovery – also saw significant growth in the percentage of short-distance commuters over the past five years. This trend underscores a broader shift: As hybrid work reshapes commuting habits, employees across multiple markets are more likely to go into the office if they live nearby, reducing reliance on long-haul commutes.
As the nation’s office recovery leader, New York offers a glimpse into what other cities can expect as office visitation rates continue to improve. Even at just 13.1% below pre-pandemic levels, NYC office visit levels continue to rise. And as recovery nears completion, trends that took hold during COVID remain firmly entrenched.
