I guess there are some families that genuinely enjoy traveling together. Dozens of people buy out plenty of space in a motel – or line up a few cottages – and arrive in force for some good ol’ fashioned family bonding time. I wouldn’t do it (coordinating travel inside the immediate family is hard enough), but there’s an element that will.
Take out the element that looks forward to a large family trip every year, and you’ll find a few more families at campsites, motels and vacation rentals … though not entirely by choice. Difficult economic conditions are driving some to pool their resources, sacrificing a measure of enjoyment to make their travel dollars as productive as possible. From Hawaii to Maine, prospective travelers are looking for deals for large groups.
TripAdvisor puts the number of families with children vacationing with another family at a third, up substantially from 2008.
Of course, some are trying to put a positive twist on the trend, claiming that the point of these trips isn’t to save money but to spend time together as a family. And, a handful of them mean it. For the rest, let’s see what happens when the economy recovers.