Travel enthusiast Lora Bowler is reducing her holiday expenditures, but that doesn’t mean she’s avoiding the resort.
As a New Yorker, she spent more than she intended in 2023, including on travel, and is now tightening her budget. To decrease her travel expenses, she leverages travel hacks and benefits. Like many others, she has found hotel day passes to be an affordable alternative for leisure.
“It’s a clever way to unwind and feel like you’re at a five-star hotel,” Bowler shared, “even when you can’t afford an overnight stay.”
Hotel and resort day passes allow guests to utilize amenities without the need to book a room. Bowler recounted using day passes for daybeds, pool services, and even a room for her husband to work remotely.
Hotels and their third-party partners are making day passes more accessible to bridge the gap between travel enthusiasts and luxury costs.
From January 1 to April 6, an average luxury hotel room in the U.S. was priced around $400 per night, according to CoStar, a global provider of real estate data and news. These rates are about 1% higher compared to the same period in the previous year.
Virtuoso, a luxury travel firm, predicts that luxury hotel room rates in July will be 85% higher than in the same month in 2019, pre-Covid pandemic.
Hayley Berg, a leading economist with travel site Hopper, stated, “People are again considering travel budgets. They’re prioritizing holiday expenses over consumer goods.”
In a July 2023 survey by Booking.com, over 60% of respondents said their cost of living would influence their 2024 travel plans. More than half also indicated they might pay for accommodation enhancements.
According to a press release by Booking.com about the survey, most U.S. travelers are ready to pay for day passes to access five-star hotel amenities without staying overnight. The survey included nearly 28,000 adults from 33 countries who plan to travel in the next 12-24 months.
Berg mentioned that consumers who splurged on travel after the Covid restrictions were lifted created a “revenge travel” trend, which increased the demand for luxury accommodations. Now, she says, this trend “has largely subsided” with many travelers operating on stricter budgets.
According to Berg, day passes “deliver exactly what people want” and generate an additional revenue stream for hotels.
“Hotels gain an extra source of income by offering what they already have,” she added.
One such hotel is the Virgin Hotels New York City, located in Manhattan’s Koreatown. On May 8, the hotel opened its rooftop pool for the second time, with an option for day guests to use the facility.
The cerulean blue tiled pool, surrounded by black-and-white lounge chairs, offers guests views of the Empire State Building and city skyline.
Customers can reserve a pool lounge chair or upgrade to a cabana for up to five people. The cabana offers complimentary services and refreshments like wine and fruit. Depending on their choices, day-pass users at the pool club can also have a dedicated server. A day pass for the pool club begins at $130.
“Everyone needs a little escape,” Sarah Payton, the hotel’s head of partnerships and programming, said.
In May 2023, the hotel joined forces with ResortPass, a platform that provides discounted day-pass access at luxury hotels, resorts, and spas.
Holding a 95% share of the day-guest market, ResortPass, established in 2016, has partnered with over 1,300 luxury hotels, including the Waldorf-Astoria, JW Marriott, and Fontainebleau.
The platform, which has provided services to over 3 million users, offers day-pass access in more than 250 cities, with prices starting as low as $25, according to the company.
“What we can really do is offer people a more localized way to escape without actually leaving,” said Michael Wolf, ResortPass CEO. “I believe it complements other travel forms and could potentially replace them.”
The average ResortPass customer purchases all-day access at approximately $165, the company shared. Customers who purchase day passes through ResortPass often spend more on poolside or other hotel amenities than overnight guests, Wolf added.
“On average, our guests spend over $250 on property amenities and often considerably more,” he said.
Wolf announced that ResortPass is developing a subscription-like program for frequent day pass users, with a formal announcement expected in late 2024.
