The future is being written now by the 13.2 million American households who control more than half of all U.S. consumer spending and are reshaping where capital flows, which destinations win, and what luxury means. Below are the Top 10 highlights from Resonance’s 2026 Future of Luxury Travel Report, available in full here. 

While headlines obsess over recession warnings and consumer pullback, a parallel economy is sprinting in the opposite direction. The Top 10% of American households now control more than half of all U.S. consumer spending. In travel, they’ll spend an estimated $544 billion in 2026 alone. And they’re not slowing down.

This isn’t theoretical. Earnings calls from major hotel groups confirm it. Luxury and upper-upscale properties continue posting rate growth while mid-scale segments stagnate. Premium airline cabins fill faster than economy. High-end restaurants have waitlists while casual chains close locations. The bifurcation of the U.S. economy is well underway.

For destination marketers, hospitality operators and hotel developers, the strategic implications are existential. Capital allocation decisions being made right now will determine who captures this growth over the next decade. Marketing budgets deployed this year will either reach the travelers driving returns or get lost in the noise. And the window to reposition is narrow.

Fortunately, Resonance has been tracking the behavior of the wealthiest 10% and 1% of U.S. households since 2007. Our latest research, conducted in partnership with Léger, surveyed 1,050 Top-10% households and 451 Top-1% households in August and September 2025. The Top 10% of U.S. earners have a household income of $240,000 – $600,000 while the Top 1% earn $600,000+. The richest 10% of U.S. households now have a net worth of $1.5-$13 million and the Top 1% a net worth of $13 million or greater.  For the purposes of this study, Resonance includes responses from both the Top 10 or 1% of earners and those of the Top 10 or 1% by net worth. What we’re seeing isn’t just growth in the wealth of these households, but structural change in how affluent Americans travel, what they prioritize, where they go, and which destinations and brands will win their business.

You can prepare your business by downloading our full, free 2026 Future of Luxury Travel Report here. Below are the 10 key durable shifts that we’ve uncovered in the report that will define the next decade of growth.

1. The Portfolio Traveler: Affluent Americans Now Take Six or More Trips Per Year, Not One “Big Trip”

Forget the single annual “big vacation.” Affluent Americans are building diversified travel portfolios, mixing short breaks, wellness retreats, cultural deep-dives, social visits, and one or two anchor trips into orchestrated calendars spanning the entire year.

The numbers are striking. The Top 10% now take an average of 4.3 leisure trips per year. The Top 1% take six. That compares to 2.8 for U.S. travelers overall. Even more telling: 18% of the top 10% now take 6-11 trips annually, up from just 11% in 2022. Among the Top 1%, that figure jumped from 15% to 27%.

You’re not competing to be “their trip.” You’re competing for one slot in a portfolio. The strategic question shifts from “How do we become a bucket-list destination?” to “Which slot do we fill, and how do we earn repeat visits across multiple years?”

Destinations must clarify their positioning. Are you the spring wellness escape? The fall culture immersion? The long-weekend social gathering spot? Generic luxury messaging lands nowhere when travelers are assembling varied experiences across 12 months.

For hotels and resorts, the portfolio model creates opportunity. The same guest who books a five-night wellness retreat in Q1 may return for a three-night culinary weekend in Q3. Design programming, packages, and loyalty incentives around repeat visitation, not one-and-done stays.

2. Safety Trumps Scenery: The #1 Decision Factor You’re Probably Under-marketing

When we asked Top-1% travelers to rank decision factors for choosing a destination, the winner wasn’t scenery (46%), climate (62%), or even quality of accommodations (45%).

It was safety. Cited by 67% as a key factor.

This finding challenges decades of destination marketing that leads with natural beauty, cultural richness, or culinary excellence. For affluent travelers, especially those planning multi-generational trips or traveling with young children, political stability, healthcare infrastructure, personal security, and low perceived risk aren’t hygiene factors. They’re conversion factors.

Canada’s rise to the #1 international destination for affluent U.S. travelers (more on that below) isn’t accidental. It scores exceptionally high on safety, stability, and healthcare. Those attributes matter when families are deciding where to spend $20,000+ on a week-long trip.

Emerging and secondary markets face a steeper climb. Even destinations with extraordinary natural or cultural assets must proactively address safety perceptions, whether through transparent communication about healthcare access, partnerships with trusted travel advisors, or alignment with globally recognized hospitality brands that signal reassurance.

If you’re not explicitly or implicitly communicating safety, you’re leaving conversion on the table.

3. The Geographic Reset: Canada, Costa Rica, and the Middle East Challenge the Old Guard

The destination hierarchy affluent Americans relied on for decades is being rewritten. And the winners reveal a new competitive equation.

Canada is now the #1 international destination for affluent U.S. travelers, narrowly outpacing Mexico and edging out many traditional European counties. Among Top-10% households, 26% intend to visit Canada in the next 12-18 months. Among the Top 1%, that figure rises to 34%.

Why Canada? Proximity (2-5 hour flights from major U.S. cities), safety (see above), and diversity of travel archetypes within a single itinerary. Affluent travelers can combine city exploration (Vancouver, Toronto, Montréal), nature immersion (Whistler, Banff, Vancouver Island), and cultural experiences without jet lag, visa complications, or long-haul logistics. It’s “international but easy,” a positioning that resonates when travelers are managing 4-6 trips per year.

Costa Rica is surging as well. Eighteen percent of Top-1% travelers are planning visits in the next 12-24 months. That’s more than any single Caribbean destination. A wave of branded luxury development (Waldorf Astoria Punta Cacique, Nekajui Ritz-Carlton Reserve, St. Regis Papagayo) paired with nonstop air service growth and a safety-forward “Pura Vida” wellness narrative has repositioned the country from eco-tourism niche to mainstream luxury market. Interest in Central America among top-1% travelers has roughly doubled since 2019, with Costa Rica capturing the majority of that growth.

Meanwhile, the Middle East, and Dubai specifically, is competing directly for younger affluent travelers’ “dream trip” mindshare. Interest in the region among Top-1% travelers more than doubled from 6% in 2019 to 13% in 2025. Among affluent travelers aged 18-34, 26% intend to visit. Dubai welcomed more than 17 million international overnight visitors in 2023, and its airport handled over 90 million passengers in 2024, making it the busiest international airport on the planet.

Proximity plus safety plus diversity is the new competitive equation. Destinations don’t need to be exotic to win share. They need to reduce friction, offer multiple experiences in a single trip, and signal stability. Long-haul, single-experience destinations face headwinds unless they occupy a truly distinctive position (Antarctica, Patagonia, the Maldives) that justifies the investment.

4. Three Dominant Psychographic Mindsets, Not Just “Affluent Travelers”

The assumption that affluent travelers are a homogeneous group is costing destinations and brands millions in misdirected marketing.

Our proprietary psychographic segmentation identifies five traveler profiles, but three dominate luxury cohorts:

Experience Enthusiasts (32% of Top 10%, 51% of Top 1%) are the youngest and most adventurous, consuming beaches, cities, outdoor sports, wellness, shopping, and cultural events across multiple trips. Male-leaning.

Cultural Explorers (33% of Top 10%, 30% of Top 1%) are motivated by learning, cultural immersion, and authentic local experiences. They have the highest average vacation spend and travel to grow.

Comfort Seekers (16% of Top 10%, 12% of Top 1%) are slightly older, prioritizing service, friendliness, quality, and exclusive events. Less adventurous but willing to spend on fine dining and curated programming. More female.

A resort positioned for Comfort Seekers (intimate, serene, service-forward, culinary-focused) will fail to attract Experience Enthusiasts (who want variety, activity, social energy). A destination marketing itself generically to “luxury travelers” will connect with none of these segments deeply.

The strategic imperative: segment campaigns by psychographic, not just income. Build itineraries, content, and influencer partnerships tailored to each mindset. A Cultural Explorer doesn’t want the same messaging or the same trip as an Experience Enthusiast, even if their household incomes are identical.

Resonance’s full, free 2026 Future of Luxury Travel Report is available here. 

5. New-Scale Luxury: Why Sub-150 Keys Is the New Benchmark

The hotel development market is bifurcating, and the gap between winners and losers is widening.

Ground-up, mid-scale commodity hotels with weak differentiation struggle to secure financing or fill rooms profitably. Meanwhile, luxury trophy resorts under 150 keys, often integrating branded residences, villas, and private clubs, continue to attract capital, command rate premiums, and deliver strong returns.

STR data confirms the structural shift. Luxury chain-scale average daily rates (ADR) grew approximately 5.7% in 2025, with revenue per available room (RevPAR) up 6.4%. Mid-scale and economy segments saw near-zero growth.

Recent luxury openings reflect the new scale: Nekajui, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Costa Rica (107 keys plus 36 branded residences), Six Senses Rome (96 keys), La Valise Mazunte in Mexico (six suites), TOURISTS in North Adams, Massachusetts (46 keys). Even larger brands are shrinking. Rosewood’s recent properties range from 55 keys (Miyakojima, Japan) to 134 (Mandarina, Mexico).

“Big-box luxury” (450-key hotels centered on retail arcades, convention space, and generic F&B) is legacy. The future is intimate, residential-integrated, villa-style layouts with curated ecosystems where design, wellness, and storytelling drive willingness to pay.

Operators must audit portfolios against this reality. Hotels over 200 keys that can’t command $800+ ADR face commoditization. Conversely, well-positioned sub-150-key properties in the right markets can sustain $1,200+ rates and outperform during downturns because affluent demand is more stable.

6. Wellness and Longevity: From Amenity to Core Infrastructure

Wellness isn’t a spa anymore. It’s becoming the operating system of luxury hospitality.

Among Top-1% travelers, 34% are planning a trip primarily for health and wellness in the next 12 months, up from 23% in 2019 and 15% in 2022. For the Top 10%, that figure is 21%, versus 15% in 2019.

But here’s the nuance. Wellness activities (yoga, spa treatments, meditation) rank only eighth and ninth overall in activity preferences. This signals that wellness is now table stakes, expected as part of any high-end stay. When it’s the primary reason for travel, it’s not about relaxation. It’s about longevity.

Affluent travelers are pursuing longer healthspans through biometric diagnostics, regenerative therapies, personalized nutrition, epigenetic tracking, and recovery science. Wellness clinics, medical spas, and longevity hubs are being embedded into luxury resorts from Costa Rica to Saudi Arabia’s AMAALA development, where Clinique La Prairie anchors programming.

Amy McDonald, CEO of wellness consultancy Under a Tree, frames the opportunity this way: “Longevity should include the community and the planet. It needs to be regenerative. Millennials and Gen Z travelers understand this. What good is your longevity when your environment is crumbling around you?”

A “nice spa” is insufficient. Affluent travelers want science-backed longevity programming, integrated, not bolted on. Market wellness as ROI (sharper minds, stronger bodies, extended independence), not indulgence. Partner with credible longevity providers. And recognize that younger affluent cohorts expect wellness to connect personal health to environmental and community health.

7. The Ultra-Luxury Cruise Surge: Hotel Brands’ Billion-Dollar Bet at Sea

One of the most striking findings in our 2026 research: interest in cruising among Top-1% travelers surged from 37% in 2019 to 53% in 2025. That’s a 16-percentage-point jump, the largest increase of any trip type.

This isn’t mass-market cruise recovery. It’s a deliberate, capital-intensive land grab by the world’s top hotel brands betting that the next frontier in luxury hospitality is at sea.

Marriott’s Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection launched Evrima in 2022, followed by Ilma in 2024 and Luminara in 2025. Four Seasons will debut its first yacht in 2026. Aman (perhaps the most telling signal of all) will launch Amangati in 2027. These vessels carry fewer than 300 suites by design, preserving scarcity and service levels closer to a private resort than a commercial cruise liner.

Inaugural seasons are selling out quickly, buoyed by brand loyalists eager to experience familiar hospitality in unfamiliar settings. As Jonathan Wilson, President and CEO of Aman at Sea, told us: “At sea, expectations have evolved: space must feel generous, service must be intuitive rather than performative, and experiences must restore balance. Amangati reflects this evolution.”

The ocean is wide, the ships are few, and the brands betting billions are wagering that scarcity and unmistakable names will keep cabins full long after launch buzz fades.

8. The Omnichannel Imperative: There Is No “Primary Channel” Anymore

Affluent travelers are constructing trips across multiple platforms simultaneously. The old model of a single dominant channel (OTA, direct, agent) is dead.

Among Top-1% travelers: 68% book directly via hotel, resort, or airline brand websites. 41% use travel agents. 34% book by phone with a specific brand. OTA usage remains significant but is plateauing. Flights might be booked via a credit card portal, hotels via a luxury advisor, and on-the-ground experiences through a mix of direct bookings and specialist operators.

Layered on top: generative AI adoption is rising rapidly. Deloitte reports 24% of travelers now use AI for holiday planning, up from 8% in 2023. Yet human intermediaries remain influential where complexity and risk are highest. 73% of cruise travelers say advisors meaningfully impact their decision to cruise. 65% of Virtuoso clients cite “added layer of protection” as their primary reason for using an advisor.

Miles McMullin, Managing Partner at Skylark Travel Group, captures the tension: “Large language models lack taste. They can give you a list of beach clubs in St. Tropez, but they can’t tell you the nuance of the crowd, the quality of the service, or which one actually fits your specific vibe.”

Brands and destinations must be legible everywhere or be invisible. Ensure clean, structured product data (rates, policies, availability, cancellation terms) so AI tools can accurately recommend you. Invest in emotionally resonant storytelling so the trip feels human once travelers arrive. Treat advisors as a premium distribution engine, not a legacy channel. Strengthen direct-booking value through loyalty, flexibility, and service guarantees that affluent travelers interpret as risk management.

9. The Pricing Power Moment: Per-Trip Spend Has Surged Since 2022

One of the clearest signals in our data: affluent travelers are spending significantly more per trip than they did even two years ago.

Average per-trip spend for the Top 10% is now $7,900, up from $5,100 in 2022. For the Top 1%, it’s $12,400, up from $8,400. General U.S. travelers, by comparison, spend an average of $3,700 per trip. While those numbers may not look that high in and of themselves, it’s important to remember that this is an average applied across the portfolio of trips mentioned above. What’s more interesting to look at is the total annual expenditure per year, which is now $74,400, on average, for a Top 1% household.

This isn’t just inflation. It reflects a structural shift toward premium products: business and first-class air, luxury hotels and villas, branded residences, private chefs, curated experiences. And a willingness to pay for flexibility, service, and peace of mind.

Rate integrity and premium positioning are defensible at the top of the market. Discounting to fill rooms is a race to the bottom that erodes brand equity and trains customers to wait for deals. Affluent travelers are spending more, not less. But they’re also more selective about where and how they spend. Win on value (experience quality, service depth, storytelling strength), not price.

For destinations, the implication is similar. Compete on distinctive experiences and safety, not on being “affordable luxury.” The affluent aren’t looking for bargains. They’re looking for worth.

10. Experience Design: Learning, Culture, and Nature Are Primary Value Propositions

The final meta-trend cuts across every other: experiences, not amenities, are the primary value proposition driving luxury travel decisions.

Among affluent travelers, 90% enjoy “learning new things” on vacation. 92% visit cultural attractions. 89% engage with nature. Fine dining ranks highest (92% of top 1%), but it’s the integration of learning, culture, and place that creates emotional return.

As Jack Ezon, founder of luxury travel company Embark Beyond, told us: “Everyone has been everywhere. Now it’s about the why, not the where. About passions, not places.”

Affluent travelers no longer want to see a destination. They want to understand it through privileged access to artists, chefs, naturalists, cultural guides, and Indigenous wisdom-keepers. They want to return home changed, not just photographed.

Programming matters more than penthouses. Curate learning experiences: private access to museum collections, mentorship with local artisans, guided nature immersion with conservation scientists. Storytelling must go beyond “what we offer” to “what you’ll become” through the experience.

Jason Grosfeld, CEO of Irongate and developer of Costa Palmas, frames it simply: “For many people, an emotional experience comes from tapping into nostalgia. Walks on the beach, skiing with the kids. Activities that have nothing to do with luxury with a capital L.”

The bar is both higher and simpler: create experiences that evoke emotion, foster connection, and leave guests feeling they touched something real.

What Comes Next

The luxury travel market is entering a decade defined by concentrated spending power, rising trip frequency, and rapidly shifting expectations. Growth will not be evenly distributed. It will accrue disproportionately to destinations and brands that understand affluent travelers not as big spenders, but as portfolio builders, and co-creators of journeys that feel rare, real, and deeply rewarding.

For the full psychographic profiles, destination rankings by cohort, hotel development pipeline analysis, path-to-purchase data, and strategic imperatives for the next decade, download our complete 2026 Future of Luxury Travel Report.

Want to set up a private team briefing to explore the luxury travel insights more deeply? Email me at cfair@resonanceco.com and let’s set up a call to discuss how we can help make your destination, resort or community ready for the future.