Democrats splurge on extra amenities, while Republicans extend their travels by playing hooky, according to a survey bu Hotels.com.
DALLAS – With the election finally upon us, there is no doubt that President Obama and Mitt Romney are fantasizing about taking an extended vacation after their campaign trails come to an end tomorrow. Over the last year, everyone learned a great deal about each of these candidates, including how and where they prefer to travel. Now, Hotels.comis taking a closer look at the travel habits of the U.S. citizens that support each candidate.
Domestic Affairs
Using insights from Google Consumer Surveys, Hotels.com found that 86 percent of Republican travelers prefer to stay within the U.S., Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean, while Democrats are 11 percent more likely to explore abroad in overseas destinations such as Europe, the Middle East, or Latin America. Not only are the majority of Americans traveling close to home, according to the survey, but they are spending more domestically on hotels as well – 5 percent more over last year, according to the latest Hotels.com Hotel Price Index (HPI).
Democrats: “Put it on my Tab”
Even though the HPI indicates that consumers are spending more on hotel accommodations than in recent years past, the survey results showed that some are still less inclined to splurge on additional travel expenses than others. When polled, Democrats admitted to spending slightly more on items such as clothing and accessories, as well as drinks with friends and family while traveling for business, whereas both Democrats and Republicans were discovered to be just as likely to expense other amenities such as hotel Wi-Fi, flight upgrades, and room service or upscale dining.
Absentee Ballot
While Democrats are squeezing all they can out of their vacation while they’re on it, Republicans proved to be the group more likely to try and extend their travel plans beyond their ending point. Of the 1,000 respondents included in the survey, Republicans outweighed Democrats by 11 percent when asked if they would call out sick to gain an extra night on their vacation.
Honest as Abe
Luckily for hoteliers, both political groups delivered similar results when asked if they had ever stolen any common items from a hotel room; the majority of each party (Democrats, 88 percent; Republicans 93 percent) voted “nay” when it came to leaving with more items than they checked in with.
Travel like a Candidate
Whether you want to plan a last minute trip to celebrate a win (or help heal a loss), or get a jump start on planning a retreat to the favorite spring-time stomping grounds of Mitt and Barack themselves – Lake Winnipesaukee, Wolfeboro NH and Martha’s Vineyard, Cape Code, MA, respectively. Democrats and Republicans alike are encouraged to check out the Hotels.com “Deals for Me” app on Facebook that will match custom hotel and deal recommendations for you based on popular destinations within your own social network. You can even book with your friends on Facebook too – inauguration road trip to Washington D.C., anyone?
The results quoted in this press release are taken from surveys conducted by Hotels.com using Google Consumer Surveys between October 18 and September 22, 2012. Each question sampled at least 500 unique, randomly sampled internet users across the Google Consumer Surveys publisher network. The average margin of error is +/- 4%.
