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EDITOR’S NOTE

Good morning. Are you traveling this summer, planning to, or just pretending you are before ultimately curling up on the couch to watch all 12 seasons of Love Island instead? Whatever the case, today’s special edition is all about the latest travel trends. We’ll look at how the industry is increasingly geared toward high-income consumers, give you the latest on the chic luggage race, recommend some off-the-beaten-path destinations, and much more.

VAY-K

The K-shaped economy is trippin’

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If you’re wealthy, it’s a new golden age of travel. If you’re not wealthy, it’s gold-plated at best. Airlines and hotels are increasingly tailoring their services to the affluent, while everyone else fights for legroom and late checkouts—if they can afford the trip at all.

First-class operation: The growing delta between high-income and low-income travelers might be easiest to notice in…Delta. The airline, like American and United, has been directing resources toward its premium products, and the strategy is paying off. According to CNN:

Sales of Delta’s main cabin seats dropped 7% in 2025, year over year.
But business and first-class ticket sales rose 9%.

In fact, the airline’s premium ticket sales surpassed economy sales for the first time ever last year.

In the meantime, fares for everyone keep getting more expensive, due, in part, to the Iran war and higher fuel prices. That’s made it harder for low-cost airlines to stay in the black, since many of their customers are getting priced out. Earlier this month, Spirit, the poster child of budget flying, abruptly shut down, specifically citing fuel costs.

Suite dreams. A similar K-shaped trend is playing out in the hotel industry. According to JLL Research, from November 2024 to November 2025:

Luxury hotels saw a 2.9% gain in revenue per available room.
Midscale properties dropped 2.6%.
Economy hotels dropped 4.1%.

People are still traveling, though

Two-thirds of Americans plan to take a domestic trip or two this summer, according to US News. They’re simply leaning on perks like frequent flyer miles and hotel points, or spending their lunch breaks hitting refresh on deal sites.

Trading places: A lot of travelers are turning to “destination dupes,” which offer experiences similar to famous tourist hot spots, but for much cheaper. So, instead of Paris and Rome, people are checking out Brussels, Belgium, and Naples, Italy. And instead of Boston, people are probably just going to Dunkin’.—BC

Everyone has thoughts on why Vegas is sputtering out

Some observers chalk it up to a decline in international tourism due to geopolitical tensions. (Mayor Shelley Berkley even publicly begged Canadians to come back to the Strip last September.) Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince, meanwhile, pitched a theory that GLP-1s have curbed not only appetites, but also urges to gamble and drink, which are…kinda Vegas’s whole shtick. And it doesn’t help that Gen Z and millennials are drinking less than generations before them.

But the strongest argument for fewer visits is likely declining value. Most casinos have tweaked their odds against gamblers in roulette and raised minimum bets at blackjack tables in the last few years. Like other recent changes in the travel industry, these moves were meant to attract higher-income customers, which seems to be working:

Despite declining visits, Vegas casinos posted record revenue last year, at roughly $8.8 billion.
An LVCA survey found that 44% of visitors had a household income of $150,000 or more.

Big picture: Combined with a flood of resort fees, inflated food and drink prices, and even hotels abandoning free parking, budget-conscious travelers are getting priced out of Sin City. Maybe try Atlantic City?—MM

OVERHEAD STORAGE

Has the chic luggage race peaked?

VCG/Getty Images

The next trendy suitcase better have a built-in television or some other ridiculous feature, because the market is getting crowded.

Sign of the times. The popular DJ John Summit made an Instagram post in which he kicks, throws, hammers, and lights his Rimowa suitcase on fire—ostensibly because he’s fed up after pieces from the luxury brand broke down on him. Then the comments section took off:

“We’ve been summoned,” wrote Away, the startup that kicked off the modern-day case race in 2015. More affordable than Rimowa and Tumi, but prettier than Samsonite, Away reached a $1.4 billion valuation in four years and opened the D2C suitcase floodgates.
“Please let me send you some @beis luggage,” the actress Shay Mitchell commented. She founded Béis in 2018. One of its latest collaborations was with Rare Beauty, Selena Gomez’s cosmetics brand.
Tumi and Samsonite also chimed in on Summit’s post. Samsonite owns Tumi, having bought the brand for $1.8 billion in 2016—the same year that LVMH bought airport status symbol Rimowa.

Overall, legacy brands like Samsonite, Tumi, and Rimowa still command the baggage carousel, but the new players are making inroads. “We’re all fighting to steal market share from Samsonite, which owns 25% of the market, and LVMH, which owns another 10%,” the co-founder of July, an Australian luggage brand, told Fast Company. One of the latest upstarts to vie for some cargo space is Casetify, a phone case company that launched its first suitcase in 2024.—ML

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