Rise of resort day passes offers travelers luxury on a budget

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Day passes at hotels and resorts offer guests access to amenities without the cost of reserving a room. ResortPass holds 95% share of the day-guest market, according to the company, and has partnered with more than 1,300 luxury hotels, including the Waldorf-Astoria, JW Marriott and Fontainebleau. Wellness travel can be enjoyed with a loved one, the entire family, or even solo. Getty Images

Avid traveler Lora Bowler is cutting back on vacation spending. That doesn’t mean she’s skipping the resort.

The New York resident said she spent more in 2023 than she had expected to, including on travel, and is now reining in her expenses. She uses travel hacks and benefits to cut some of the cost, and she’s part of a growing number of people turning to hotel day passes as a cheaper option for relaxation.

“It’s like a neat way to escape and feel like you’re at a five-star hotel,” Bowler said, “but you can’t afford to stay.”

Day passes at hotels and resorts offer guests access to amenities without the cost of reserving a room. Bowler said she’s booked daybeds and poolside services and even found a pass that offered a room where her husband could work from his laptop.

Hotels and third-party partners are making day passes more readily available to help bridge the gap between travel-minded consumers and luxury prices.

A typical luxury hotel room in the U.S. between Jan. 1 and April 6 cost roughly $400 per night, according to CoStar, a global provider of real estate data, analytics and news. Those rates are about 1% higher than the same period a year ago.

Luxury hotel room rates in July are expected to be 85% higher than the same month in 2019, before the Covid pandemic, according to the luxury travel company Virtuoso.

“People are back to thinking about travel budgets,” said Hayley Berg, lead economist with travel site Hopper. “They’re prioritizing expenditure on vacations, more so than consumer goods.”

In a survey conducted in July 2023 by Booking.com, more than 60% of respondents said their cost of living will determine their travel planning in 2024, while slightly more than half said they were likely to pay for accommodation upgrades.

A majority of U.S. travelers said they would be willing to pay for day passes to use the amenities in a five-star hotel

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