Our travel survey results are in! First off, we’d like to thank our wonderful River Oaks Travelers who took the time to complete our post-COVID-19 travel survey. We were overwhelmed by the participation, and truly appreciate the support and additional insight as we all look forward to the days when travel can be “non-essential” again.

Now for the real reason you’re here – the results of our travel survey! Some of your responses were what we expected, while others had us (happily!) a little surprised. Check out our graphs below for the full details.

Psst – Didn’t have a chance to complete our travel survey? We still have it open and would love to see your thoughts! Complete it now on our post.

When will you travel again?

Although social distancing is still in effect and nobody is headed out of town in the next few weeks, we are happy to see that so many of our River Oaks Travelers are counting down the days until they can travel again. Whether you’re booking a flight the moment bans are lifted or waiting until there’s a vaccine, our team of travel advisors will be here when you’re ready to start planning.

How will you travel in the future?

There’s no denying that travel is going to look different on the other side of COVID-19. Based on what our River Oaks Travelers had to say, it looks like privacy and access may be the most important items to you. The personal connections and minimal outside interactions available through custom private itineraries, small group journeys and small ship cruises (both Ocean and River) may be why they lead the pack in types of travel that you are interested in. When it comes to cruising, it looks like the larger cruise ships will need to make some major changes to the way they operate in order to keep their clientele, and this new importance of health and safety is making its way across all areas of travel, from planes to trains and everything in between.

We’re also seeing that this experience has caused many travelers to reconsider how important flexibility is when making their travel arrangements. In the past we have seen many clients opting to book non-refundable travel without really considering the consequences. In the post COVID-19 world, however, over 90% of you are unsure whether you would continue to book things that are non-refundable, instead preferring to have the flexibility to change your plans.

When it’s time for you to travel again, our travel advisor team will be here to help you weigh the pros and cons of each type of travel, and nonrefundable vs flexible rates to make sure that you feel secure and safe exploring our wide world.

Where will you travel and what’s on your wanderlist?

The past few weeks spent inside our homes, social distancing from friends, colleagues, and family have given people plenty of time to think about where they’ll visit once travel can be “non-essential” again. While we did expect that many of our River Oaks Travelers would plan to stay a bit closer to home for their next trips, when studying our travel survey results, we were excited to see that many of you are ready to venture further afield!

Nearly 75% of you are excited to explore the United States and North America, with destinations like Hawaii, the Rocky Mountains, New England and US National Parks being the top options in the US. Old favorites like Eastern Canada, Los Cabos in Mexico, and Turks and Caicos round out the top ten North American destinations. When it comes to exploring other continents, two definitely ran away from the pack! Almost 90% of you are excited to explore the history filled streets of Europe again soon and almost 80% want to venture even further and check out the cities and wilderness of Australia, New Zealand and the rest of the South Pacific!

No matter whether you decide that your next trip will be exploring areas closer to home or further abroad, our expert travel advisors are here to help you choose the best destination and experiences for you and your family!

Why should you work with a travel advisor?

For those of you who had travel booked over the last few weeks, the experience of cancelling your plans was enough to break your hearts and in some cases your minds! Our travel survey results show 25% of you had problems with cancelling travel plans that you had booked on your own, whether this was because of long hold times, frustrating cancellation policies, or simply being unable to reach a real person. On the other hand nearly 50% of you reaffirmed why you used a travel advisor in the first place: we were here every step of the way in helping you to cancel or postpone your travel arrangements.

Over 80% of you would use a travel advisor on your next trip. With our knowledge, expertise, and the added value that we provide (not to mention the actual person on the other line when something goes wrong!), it’s easy to see why! For the 17% of you who were undecided, the most common reasons were because you enjoy planning for yourself or because your trips aren’t that complicated, and we totally understand!

Did you know that we are happy to have you be as involved as you would like to be in the planning process? Whether you want to sit back and let us plan everything for you or you want to have your fingers on the pulse of every decision, we’re happy either way! And even if your trips aren’t that complicated, don’t forget the extra value that your advisor brings to every trip. Whether this is additional amenities at our partner hotels, or insight into the best new restaurant for dinner, we’re here to make sure that you have a wonderful travel experience near and far.

Your Support Means the World – Literally

While we all are staying at home for now, we hope when the time is right you’ll reach out to us for help in planning your next adventure – be it a long exotic trip or a weekend getaway close to home. And as we all are realizing more than ever the importance of supporting our local communities, we hope you will also consider introducing us to your friends and family so we can be their local travel advisors too.

Thank you for your support, and we look forward to seeing you in person as soon as we’re able! Until then, let us know if there’s anything we can do for you.