Here are 15 amazing travel industry predictions for 2024 by Steve Glenn

This week, I will add predictions 31-45 to my annual list of travel industry predictions. My next 15 predictions are coming next week. CLICK HERE to read my first 30 predictions. 

31. Hotels will charge you a housekeeping fee of $15 a night –The pandemic has provided the hotels with the opportunity to start charging a fee for housekeeping. Basically, if you want someone to clean your room every day you will have to notify the front desk and pay a fee. Hotels seem to be adopting the adage used by Sir Winston Churchill, “never let a crisis go to waste” by implementing daily “COVID cleaning fees” on top of your hotel room rate. These hidden fees are an insult to travelers, and I hope hotels will treat their customers better by being honest and upfront with travelers and not charging these fees. CLICK HERE for more.

32. Getting your passport renewed will move online this year – The U.S. government is testing a new online passport renewal system that they hope to roll out in 2024. This will be a giant time saver as currently, it can take 5 – 9 weeks to get a passport renewed by sending in the forms via mail. This new process offers the possibility to shorten the renewal time by half. CLICK HERE to find the page that explains the new process.   CLICK HERE to hear more. 

33. Facial recognition will replace your airline ticket and passport – Paper tickets are ancient history and now digital tickets on your mobile phone will no longer be needed to clear airport security as the travel industry is moving rapidly to deploy facial recognition scanners to replace your digital or paper tickets. Anyone who has used a Global Entry pass to clear international immigration and customs understands that you no longer need to present your passport in the Global Entry machines as they have a scan of your face and know all the details of your trip. Many airport security gates now just have you present a photo ID and not a ticket or boarding pass to clear security. Although this appears as progress it is also a little creepy to me as the government knows your every move. CLICK HERE for more. 

34. There will be another pandemic scare somewhere in the world in late 2024 that the world will largely try to ignore – There have been 10 major pandemics worldwide since the year 2000. Historically they hit us about every 2-3 years. It will be interesting to see with all the politics surrounding masking, vaccinating, and schooling how the world will handle the next scary bug. CLICK HERE to see the details of all the pandemics. CLICK HERE for more. Here is a list of the last 10 pandemics:  

1999-2002 – West Nile Virus;
 2001 – Anthrax; 
 2003 – SARS-CoV;  
 2006 – Mumps; 
 2006 – E. coli & Salmonella; 
 2009 – H1N1 Virus (Swine Flu);
 2012 – Whooping Cough; 
 2012 – MERS-CoV; 
 2014 – Ebola; 
 2016 – Zika Virus;
 2020 – COVID-19. 

35. Dogs, Dogs, and more dogs travel in 2024 – More and more people will be bringing their dogs along when they travel in 2024. Last year I was amazed at the number of dogs people brought on board each flight I was on. One flight had three dogs on the flight and one flight had to take one dog off the plane as another dog was barking at him. It is even worse at some of the resorts I visit. I think hotels will have to do something as I was very uncomfortable with dogs sniffing people and fighting off other dogs in the hotel. I grew up on a farm and love animals and especially dogs, but hotels need to decide if they are a hotel or a kennel, and airlines that stopped providing peanuts because they were afraid people might be allergic to them need to consider that some people are just as allergic to dogs.  CLICK HERE to hear Paul and I discuss more.

36. The BIG 3 airlines will continue giant international expansion in 2024 as that is where they make their money – The bottom line is that the cost structure of the BIG 3 makes it difficult for them to compete with the LCC (low cost carriers) so they are using their hub and spoke systems to feed their international route systems where they can offer business class revenue and hundreds of seats on jumbo airplanes to generate a profit. CLICK HERE for more. 

37. Throw away your boarding pass in 2024 as biometrics will be the future of security check-in – The airlines and government have already implemented the use of biometrics (fingerprint, eye scan, etc) as a more secure way to get you through security lines and onto the planes. I think the Global Entry pass and TSA Pre- Check will quickly move from fingerprint scans to biometric eye scans this year. CLICK HERE for more. 

38. Vacation Villas are all the rage in Europe in 2024– The old way of traveling to Europe by hopscotching day by day to a different hotel is now being replaced by finding a Villa in the center of it all. And using it as the hub headquarters for daily excursions allow you to explore the area and return home to the Villa each night. No packing and unpacking, enjoy private chef cooking and luxury amenities for half the cost of an expensive hotel. Also this is great for family and friends traveling together. When one group of guys wants to visit the wineries of Umbria Italy one day, the ladies may just want to lay around the pool and soak up the sun, and enjoy a private massage. Villa rental is the best of both worlds for those wanting to see everything every day and those wanting to relax in between the sightseeing. CLICK HERE for more. 

39. Car rental taxes can add up to 60% to the cost of renting a car – I know when you read this, many of you will shake your heads in disgust. Local city governments are becoming addicted to taxing the new traveler coming to town. CLICK HERE to hear more.

40. 2024 will be the year that more people will earn free flights and Elite Airline status using credit cards – The airlines appear to be making more money selling airline miles to banks than they do flying passengers. Most of the major airlines have changed their frequent flyer programs so you can actually earn more free flights and miles using your credit card than actually flying on the airline. CLICK HERE for more.

41. Airlines are about to kill the goose that lays the golden egg by allowing too many people into the airline lounges – All the major airlines are promoting airline credit cards that provide special perks like free admission into the airlines’ airport lounges. This helps sell a lot of credit cards but is putting too much pressure by filling all the lounges at the busiest time of the travel day. Some days there are no seats to sit down inside the airline clubs. I often find it more refreshing to sit outside the lounges. At a cost of almost $600 a year, one has to start questioning the hassle factor of investing in airline club lounges in 2024.
CLICK HERE for more.

42. One of every three hotel rooms will go empty in 2024 – Hotels rebounded strongly in 2023 as the post-COVID vacation travel fueled the pent-up demand and helped fill empty hotel rooms. Even with this improvement, almost 1 out of 3 hotel rooms will go empty in 2024. CLICK HERE for more.

43. The hottest travel trend of women traveling with groups of other women will get even bigger in 2024 – Six years ago, Executive Travel launched “Women of the Midwest”, which were women-only travel groups. The concept has taken off like wildfires, and we expect this to continue exponentially as women have the money and time to travel and want the safety and security of traveling with other women.  To see our many tours visit https://womenofthemidwest.com/  CLICK HERE to hear more.

44. The two best months to travel to Europe are May and October – Great weather, fewer crowds, and great prices. If you are looking for the best time to visit Europe then these two months of May and October are the best for the three reasons mentioned above. CLICK HERE for more.

45. Travel insurance is a must for travel in 2024 – One thing COVID taught travelers is that they will be able to protect their travel investment from things beyond their control. Both young and old need to face the same health risks when the next pandemic raises its head. For example, an international tour to Europe may cost $5000. What happens if you catch COVID the day before you leave on your trip? What about if your test comes back false positive? What happens when you catch COVID during your trip and test positive before returning home on the plane and have to isolate for 10 days? All these cases could cause you to lose thousands of dollars but can be covered by certain travel insurance programs. Even domestic travel should be covered with insurance as you could be out thousands of dollars if testing turns up positive. CLICK HERE for more.

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