Jamie Biesiada
2025 was the year of close-in bookings. It was a blessing and a curse for advisors. Booking close to the time of travel requires a lot of last-minute scrambling, but it can fill gaps in revenue from trips not planned further in advance.
It was a trend that emerged last spring and carried on through the year. According to a Travel Weekly reader poll conducted in November and December, 46% said booking windows were shorter compared to the year prior, while 21% said booking windows were longer. The rest said they had seen no noticeable change.
Luxury travel specialist Virtuoso is now seeing evidence that booking windows are expanding. The travel agency consortium found that U.S. leisure sales in 2025 for travel in 2026 or 2027 were up 42%.
David Kolner, Virtuoso's executive vice president of strategic communications, shared that statistic during the consortium's U.S. Forum event at the end of January. It could be a positive indicator that consumers are once again comfortable booking travel further out, although it's possible that Virtuoso's luxury travelers are feeling more secure than travelers with less disposable income.
Looking back, and ahead
Virtuoso also reported that bookings of $50,000 or more were up 63%, and that the average daily hotel rate sold by its U.S. agencies rose to a high of $2,158 per night in December 2025.
The consortium's total U.S. production was up 21% in 2025 and said all categories grew, with hotels registering the highest growth at 36%.
Virtuoso also measured optimism for the year ahead via a survey, with 71% of members saying they were optimistic about their business. In the middle of 2025, that number stood marginally lower at 69%.
Supplier partners are also more optimistic. In January, 62% were optimistic, up from 56% in the middle of 2025.
Travel Weekly's November-December reader poll found advisors slightly less optimistic than Virtuoso's, with 66% saying they were optimistic or extremely optimistic about the profitability and growth of their business in 2026, while 16% were neutral and 18% were slightly or very pessimistic.