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Welcome to Travel Buddy
In this episode of Travel Buddy by Switchfly, Brandon and Rachel are joined by Switchfly's Sales Manager, Ashley Martinez to explore the growing trend of microcations—short weekend getaways and staycations. The team shares personal anecdotes, such as beach trips and playing tourist in one’s own city, to highlight how meaningful experiences don’t require long, costly vacations. They discuss how Millennials and Gen Z favor shorter, experience-focused trips due to their affordability, ease of planning, and compatibility with busy lifestyles, including pet care and limited PTO.
The conversation also delves into the strategic use of loyalty and credit card points for local travel, offering ideas like using points for regional flights, dining experiences, or city tours. The group emphasizes the value of loyalty program perks like free breakfasts, late checkouts, and lounge access that enhance short trips. Ashley shares practical tips on maximizing weekends, including flash deals, traveling light, and PTO hacking with holiday weekends. The episode closes with advice for brands to tailor loyalty marketing towards the microcation trend and Gen Z preferences, including pet-friendly options and dynamic trip packaging.
Transcript
Welcome to Travel Buddy, presented by Switch Fly. In this podcast, we talk about all things, travel, rewards, and loyalty. Let's get to it. Hello and welcome back to another episode of The Travel Buddy presented by Switch Fly. I have with me as always Rachel. Ow. Thank you for joining and we are also delighted to have Ashley Martinez back again on the show.
So glad you're here. How's everybody doing today? This fine, Tuesday afternoon.
Doing great.
Awesome. Today we are talking about weekend getaways. So short micro trips and micro travel. Let's say you leave on a Saturday morning, you get back on a Sunday night. We'll talk about some trends and some tips along those lines, but I'm curious before we get there, Rachel, Ashley, what was your favorite micro trip?
Do you have one in mind that comes to mind? Like what was it like? You went somewhere for a weekend or it was a few hours away? What was that like and and where did you go?
Ash? I have one. Do you have one? You I have one. You go. Go for it On here. So last year my mom and I took a girl's trip over to Daytona Beach, which, funny enough, she lives in Cocoa Beach.
So going to a Floridian Beach was nothing new for us, but neither of us had actually been to Daytona. Um, and so we just took a Friday, took a Monday, and spent the weekend at a resort there, swimming in the pool, going to the beach, having a wonderful time. Just the two of us, and it's probably one of my favorite memories for me and my mom.
And is also one of those, like, it was a nice hour drive for both of us to meet halfway and it was a great time spent.
I love that. I love that. I have a comment on that, but Ashley, how many years where you, where have you gone?
So, as a proud Orlean, I am a big fan of the staycation. So playing tourist in your own city?
Yes. Really easy for a weekend. Get away, um, you know, one or two nights, but I love being able to. Take part or just appreciate what my city has to offer. Sometimes it's underappreciated. You, you know, you lived, or I know in the past I've lived near a beach and I never actually even went to the beach. So actually capitalizing on things that are close to you, um, you don't the when I think, um, especially as a new orian, uh, we have so many awesome things in the city.
So, um, I'm a big fan of the staycation.
I love that. I love that. It's easy to do when you're in New Orleans, you have this beautiful city. You know, it's a little easier than Topeka, Kansas. No, I don't know anything about Topeka. I've never actually been there. But, um, but what I love about your stories is.
You think these epic memory making life changing trips are like these 14 day trips to Europe or you know, go to Japan for a week or whatever. But it doesn't have to be like that. It could be a two day trip or a three day trip to a Florida beach when you live in Florida, you know, or you stay home and just tour your own city and you can make so many memories and cool.
Um, yeah, just cool experiences doing that. I love that. That's a great source. Okay, so that brings us to the topic today of weekend getaways. So I would love to hear, you guys have talked about there are some trends that you're seeing why weekend getaways might be on the rise, especially for younger folks, gen Z, millennial.
We've talked about those travelers a bit, but tell me a little bit about what you guys are seeing on the weekend getaway sides based on your data.
Yeah. From a millennial Gen Z perspective, obviously we're seeing that generation really values experiences over material things. But one of the things they've capitalized on are these ideas of micro cation or staycations as Rachel and I just gave two examples of.
Making the most of the time that you have and, um, and doing something, you know, experiential with that. So I think we found that the Gen Z millennial generation are preferring these types of holidays as one ease and cost from a cost perspective. So you can have a great travel experience memory, just as you alluded to Brandon.
It doesn't have to be this big two week trip. Um, they also prefer it as from an ease perspective. If you're a pet parent or maybe if you have children of your own, it's easier sometimes to find, um, resources to help with your pets or your children, you know, including your home. So we've found definitely staycations and vacations, and we can, getaways are on their eyes.
I,
I am glad you mentioned pets because a lot of people will talk about travel and that they have to stick. Close by because they have a dog. It's like you always go out to dinner with your friends and they're like, I gotta leave, take care of my dog. And as a non-PE person, I recommend just getting a cat.
Then you can leave for a week and you're fine. But anyway, I digress and I have
very different cats if that's the case.
That's fair. Okay.
To piggyback on what Ashley was saying, the data that we've really been looking at, Expedia Group did a great report where they mentioned 57% of Gen Z are, say they would rather take several short trips rather than one long trip.
So going back to your statement, Brandon, about it doesn't have to be this. Two week long European vacation in order to matter it. You don't really need to spend all of that time. And it's also harder for people to make the accommodations with the lifestyles that they're living. And one of the other interesting points from a different report was it's actually not that far off.
For the US population at large, it's around 61% that plan to take micro vacations in 2025. So when we're comparing, is it a generational. A generational preference. It's ho, honestly, very similar when it comes to the grand micro cation. Surge.
Yeah, that's interesting. So yeah, it seems that people in general might be preferring just kinda shorter trips.
And I think, I like that you said lifestyle. I think there's a lot of that comes into play that people are crammed. They have so many things to do. So if you can squeeze in a good trip between Friday and Sunday, something like that, or a long weekend, I think that's, yeah, that's really helpful. So I think.
Part of what can be really great about these smaller getaways is that you can always use points and that there are a lot of reward optimized weekend escapes that you can have when you think about your trips and your vacations in a different way. Think about them as like a long weekend or, or getting out of town or to like off the beaten path.
Maybe there's some cities like close by that offer some real rewarding experiences. So talk to me a little bit about how have you seen points being used for smaller getaways? So thinking about maybe regional flights or concert tickets or different things that like you can actually use those points in more creative ways to what comes to mind for you guys there?
I.
Yeah, ab, absolutely. We've seen an adoption of use of points on experiential type redemption opportunities, so activities. Think a tour of your own city or a tour or experience somewhere local to, uh, travelers. Homes. So for example, in New Orleans, there's a swap boat tour that I love and that kind of plays into that staycation, but it's a lower cost ticket item.
So I can use, um, the ability to use my points, um, for something that is not a bigger ticket item such as a hotel or a flight. So we've really seen an increase in adoption on experiences, local tours, things of that nature. Yet you
bring up an interesting point, Ashley, so. You know, one of the things that we've talked about on the podcast before is domestic travel and seeing a rise in domestic travel.
And Brandon, one of your comments is maybe you're going somewhere within an hour or two hours from your home, or you're just, you're exploring your backyard. One of the things that from a points perspective, makes it really easy is sometimes it doesn't take. A hundred thousand points to a beach in Bali.
It's, you can use 10 to 20,000 points and get a cabin for the weekend, or a dinner cruise or something along the lines to be a tourist in your own city.
Yeah, I love that, that, yeah, it's, we have in, we live in north Texas and if you go to Bentonville, Arkansas, the northwest Arkansas, a beautiful little town and it's got a lot of these little things that you can do with points that are actually really cool, like bike rides, museum tours, things like that, that you wouldn't think of when you think of all vacation.
But it's actually super relaxing. It's close by. You can drive there. And then you can use those points for some of those experiences that you wouldn't otherwise have in mind when you're thinking about things like that. So I think that's a great example. There's other like upgrades. There's like free breakfast.
There's different brands that might be doing some things like this very well that like on these short trips, there's ways to maximize those points in different ways. Can you talk about some things like that?
Absolutely. So as a travel agent and with Switch vib being active in the travel loyalty technologies space, always a big proponent of signing up for different loyalty programs, whether that's hotel brands or through airlines, obviously, to maximize points in mileage through a lot of loyalty programs.
There's a lot of great upgrades you can get. As you mentioned, free breakfast. That's always nice, especially if you have a family vacation. One, one meal. It could go. Definitely contributes too if you're trying to travel budget friendly, so always recommend. Absolutely signing up for loyalty programs and also seeing through, if let's say you're staying at a hotel, what perks that hotel might offer in terms of experiences, activities, and other local events.
Rachel, do you have a favorite perk that you've gotten from a credit card or loyalty points?
I don't think I have a favorite one from points, but to Ashley's comment, the late checkouts, the free breakfasts, the lounge access, there's definitely perks that come along with these programs that don't necessarily need to goss points that make the world of a difference when you are on a weekend getaway or a micro occasion.
One of the things, just going back to how brands are capitalizing on this, we're seeing different programs, different credit card programs, actually showcasing on their loyalty pages, the lo low cost experiences, and those same day redemptions, I. In order for people to make those quick decisions or spur of the moment experiential re reward redemptions.
It's interesting to see how loyalty programs overall are making the shift to like feed into this idea of shorter vacations.
Oh, nobody likes a recession, but one thing that's helpful is you get some creative uses for your points sometimes that brands start to adapt to say, Hey, instead of that 10 day trip to France, you were thinking about.
Maybe you can go to Arkansas and then take a late checkout and then go to the lounge on your way out. 'cause I will say I'm a big proponent of the lounge. If you have the means. It is so choice to quote Ferris Bueller, it's not a Ferrari, but a lounge is pretty nice. Okay. Okay. Ashley, I'm coming back to you because you are a experienced travel agent.
You plan these things, you do tons of research. You've been on a zillion trips all over the world. What are your hot takes quick tips on getting the most out of a short regional trip.
Absolutely. So in terms of planning, let's say it's midweek and you have a free weekend coming up, definitely look, sign up for the loyalty programs again, they, sometimes they do last minute deals, so some flash deals you could always find, even hotels tonight, they're always great deals, even, uh, the day before.
So don't think it, this trip has to be planned out months and months ahead. So definitely, you know, keep your eyes open for, for deals. Also other perks that, you know, definitely recommend carrying light. I'm a big fan of the carry-on. Mm-hmm. Always. I'm team carry-on. You can even travel to Europe in a carry-on for two weeks.
I promise you can do it. So that will save, um, some on the plane, on your plane flight as well. Also just carrying light. Um, so think about can you leave early Saturday morning and come back late Sunday night to capitalize off that lake checkout? Can you go after work on a Friday? I think another. Topic that we haven't touched on yet is also how do you capitalize from a work perspective, from with your PTO calendar, you know, is there a, a midway, you know, uh, we just had celebrated Juneteenth, it was on a Thursday.
Could you maybe take that Friday off and then do something a Wednesday afternoon to a Sunday? So I think there's a lot of strategic things. Um. That you could do, but biggest segue is, is always keep your eyes open for loyal flash deals. There's, if there's a, well, there's a way you can, you can find a way to do it.
I, I'm glad you mentioned the PTO. Like on a, let's say you have a Friday offer. In this case it was a Thursday, offer many people with several holiday. We've talked about on the show before that there are like calendars that you can find out there that map out all of the four or five day weekends throughout the year, and you can plan your travel around that.
Now, obviously because of that, there's gonna be a lot of demand around those, so rates might be a little bit higher, but it's really interesting if you actually look through those dates, which we've done, this was like many episodes ago, but we looked at it and there's 20 days in the year that you could actually cobble together a really amazing travel schedule.
Yeah. Thank you so much for tee me up. Switch Fly actually has one. We can keep it in the show notes. Oh, I that okay? Yes. Yeah. Awesome. Thanks. We, we, especially with Q3 coming up, you can take the 4th of July weekend, et cetera. It's a perfect resource, but yeah, to your point, it. Helps turn limited PTO, and that is a big concern for those in the workforce.
How can I make these staycations or those micro locations work when I have such a busy schedule at work? Is how can you PTO hack here, like what is the opportunity that's right, that you can take the Monday, take the Tuesday, take the whatever day it is to make your vacation a little bit longer. I actually also have a tip of my own Ooh, when it comes to maximizing your, your weekend getaways.
Is look for your off peak travel. So, and, and when you pair it with the PTO calendar, then it's a dream. But if you look for off, off peak travel times, or shoulder, uh, shoulder seasons as it's often referred to, um, they can cost up to like 40% less in your points. So when we think about this idea of making your points work harder for you or making your money work harder for you, that's always a way you can get around it as well.
I can confirm that I went to Italy one year during Thanksgiving. I highly recommend if you are planning to go international travel, do it over Thanksgiving because all of the Americans are staying home and I think I, I don't quote me on this, but I think that our round trip tickets to Rome, so we flew, I think from like Atlanta to Rome and back, and it was $284.
And then everything else was super cheap because there's no Americans there. You know, it's like we, it was an incredible, very, uh, cost effective trip and we traveled all over, all over Italy. So anyway. Yeah, highly recommend. And I did not know you guys had that PTO calendar. I need to go check that out now because that is useful.
The other thing actually, you had mentioned traveling light. I want to emphasize that because traveling light is like a godsend. It is a miracle. If you have ever traveled heavy as. Your boy does with now a toddler and a newborn trying to figure out how to travel. There's so many things that come with little children, but if you can get down to a bag, it changes your trip in the best way.
And there's a Reddit, a sub Reddit called One Bag. Check it out. Few guys are travelers out there. One bag travel. It's awesome. I give you lots of good tips. Anyway, that's my rant. Okay, so last question. What else do the people need to know about these short trips? How are you guys thinking about it? A switch fly?
Anything else you're seeing brands do that is interesting? Any final hot takes or tips as people was thinking about this summer?
Great. You wanna talk about from a marketing
perspective,
I.
Absolutely I can. Yeah, so we were talking about this a little bit before about how loyalty programs are changing, what they're featuring on their landing pages and really focusing on those same day redemptions, et cetera.
But I think overall loyalty programs should consider this shift in focus from the big trips, those large redemptions, and especially in the ability that we have today with. Data-driven, data-driven analytics and decisions that we can make to better our marketing tactics. Think about segmenting out some of the Gen Z audiences, which we know are most likely to want to take multiple micro locations in a year.
And just test it. Test it on. If you show a few of the weekend getaway offers or the weekend worthy offers that Friday through Sunday travel, just get a test to see if your audience is receptive to. Making these snap decisions instead of these long planned out, larger trips that would are a bit more of a lift, both from the pocket perspective and the logistics perspective.
Another option for, just from a messaging perspective, we know that. Gen Z millennials are really into, Ashley, you talked about this before, bringing their pets along, making sure that you are being inclusive with the flexibility in, in, in your messaging. And is it a pet friendly resort that you can spend a, a coup a.
A few thousand points on to go for the weekend and or a cabin in the woods that's four hours away instead of across the country or anything along those lines. But it is really a great opportunity for loyalty programs to tap into dynamic packaging, which is something that swiftly offers and it allows you to pair your hotels and activities and really get more of the buyer's journey when it comes to travel purchasing and allows for that one click weekend trip.
With your pet. Don't forget your cat. When you wanna match with your pet next weekend with your pet, you can't forget your cat. That's right. That's right. Yeah. No, I, yeah, I love that because I, there, I think folks will find that people are more interested in taking these kind of snap vacations than otherwise, than I, I guess what I'm trying to say is.
It's more common, and I think there's more desire there than people might let on. It's like when you didn't know that you wanted that thing until somebody presented it to you and then you're like, oh my gosh, yes, I would love a cannoli right now. That sounds amazing. But I didn't know that I wanted a cannoli because until I saw it, that kind of thing.
So anyway, yeah, I think that's fantastic advice. I guess we'll end there. I appreciate your insights so much and keeping us updated on what's happening in the world of travel, and I think there's so many creative options out there, especially if you have really good points, options available. There's just like really interesting creative perks.
If you just think a little bit beyond kind of your traditional vacations that most people think of. And again, we've talked about this before, but use chat BT even to do some research. Hey, I'm looking for a creative option. Here are my parameters, here are my criteria or my constraints. You'll find some really interesting stuff that's just a few hours drive away or maybe an hour plane ride.
Like for us, Mexico is two hours away and it's, I never think of going to Mexico. I should go anyway. Rachel, Ashley, it's always a joy to have you on the show. I'm excited about next episode and we will see you then. Thanks, Brandon. Bye.
