US solo travel plans jump to 23.6% in SiteMinder's 2027 guest survey

Nearly a quarter of American travelers say their next trip will be a party of one. SiteMinder's Changing Traveler Report 2027 puts the share of US travelers planning to go solo at 23.6%, up from 14.4% a year earlier, according to Hotel Business, which reported the findings this month. Globally the rise was gentler, to 16.1% from 13.8%.

The survey covers more than 12,000 travelers across 14 of the world's largest tourism markets, and it measures intent: people describing how they plan to take their next trip, not stays already on the books. Still, a 9.2-point move in one year is big enough that anyone setting 2027 rate plans for a US property should take note.

Counting heads is the easy part. The harder question is what a solo guest buys once they arrive, and here SiteMinder's data points two ways. Its global numbers describe a thrifty, last-minute solo traveler. Its US numbers describe an American guest who pays up for better rooms and trusted brands. A US hotel's 2027 room mix will land somewhere between those two pictures.

Where the solo jump is biggest

SiteMinder's interactive report breaks the rise out by market. The US leads the countries it highlights, at 23.6%. Australia was already high and climbed to 22.5% from 18.4%. Italy made the sharpest relative leap, from 6.6%, one of the lowest rates in the study, to 14.6%. SiteMinder says solo trips had barely moved for three years before this jump, and they now rank as the third most common way to travel globally, ahead of trips with friends, colleagues and tour groups combined.

The demographics are what make this matter for hotels. Across the full sample, Gen X added 3.1 points of solo share and millennials 3.0, while Gen Z added only 1.2. Women grew 2.9 points against 1.7 for men, which SiteMinder says is narrowing a gap between female and male solo travel that has persisted for decades. Its own reading is that solo travel is becoming a mid-life choice rather than a rite of passage, with the growth led by people in their 30s to 50s.

That profile suggests a guest with an established career and established travel habits. Hostel-style budgets are a poor fit for it. For properties whose single-occupancy offer is simply a double room at a modest discount, it is worth asking whether that product matches a guest who is more likely to be 45 than 22.

Standard rooms abroad, Deluxe at home

Globally, solo travelers are careful with money. In SiteMinder's sample, 55% of them choose a standard room, compared with 43.3% of all travelers, and 7.5% book just before check-in, against 4.2% overall. They are also quicker to refuse add-ons: 19.2% of solo travelers say they won't pay for extra fares, against 14% globally. The report sums them up as budget-conscious and spontaneous, happy to skip the upgrade.

That thrift sits inside a broader tightening across the global sample. The share of travelers planning to stay closer to home rose to 29.4% from 23.9%, and the share planning to book at the last minute climbed to 20.9% from 17.7%, Hotel Business reported. Appetite has not faded: 41.6% of travelers worldwide report a stronger desire to travel in 2027. Read together, the solo figures look like a sharper version of the same posture, people still keen to go who are working harder to make the money stretch.

American guests as a group look very different. Though 44% of US travelers plan to travel only domestically over the next 12 months, compared with 29.7% globally, staying close to home is not translating into trading down. Their room expectations sit well above the global averages:

The US recorded a 9.2-point solo jump in the same market where 25.1% of guests expect to book a Deluxe room, against 14.9% globally. Those two facts come from different slices of the data, though. The standard-room and last-minute figures describe solo travelers across all 14 markets; the premium-room figures describe all American travelers. The published findings do not show what American solo guests specifically book.

So the strongest objection to reading the solo surge as an upgrade opportunity is a fair one. If US solo travelers behave like their global counterparts, a growing solo share could pull a property's mix toward standard rooms and shorter booking windows. If they behave like other Americans, they are the premium-curious guest with nobody to split the bill, and the case for clear single-occupancy upgrade pricing gets stronger. The survey cannot settle that. A hotel's own reservation data can.

Loyalty still pulls American guests

Brand and loyalty carry more weight in the US than almost anywhere in the study. Almost half of US travelers (47.8%) name a trusted hotel brand as a top-three factor when choosing between properties, against 37.9% globally. Among Americans planning to stay with a chain, 42.9% cite loyalty program benefits as a reason, 12.2 points above the global average. And 33.1% say a rewards program would bring them back to a hotel, compared with 22.6% worldwide.

The global trend runs the other way. Among chain-hotel guests across all markets, memorable experiences as a reason to choose a chain jumped to 39.7% from 28.4%, while loyalty-program benefits slid to 30.8% from 38.5%, SiteMinder's report shows. The US is the exception here. Even American guests, though, rank a memorable experience (38.2%) above a rewards program (33.1%) as a reason to return, roughly matching the global 39.1%.

That global figure is itself on the move, up from 36.7% a year earlier, and SiteMinder calls the memorable moment the fastest-rising reason to return, even though value and location still top the list. The suggestion for US operators is that loyalty programs are holding American guests for now, while the experience lever is the one gaining ground everywhere, including in the American ranking.

Experiences are also where guests say they will spend. Worldwide, 80.3% would pay extra for at least one on-site experience, up from 77.5%, with spa services, gourmet dining and rooftop experiences ranking highest. In the US and Australia, the in-room touch guests rate most is a big screen with streaming. For a hotel courting solo guests, those paid add-ons and in-room comforts could be the upgrade path for travelers who skip the bigger room.

AI assistants as the first stop

Americans are also faster to hand hotel research to software. TravelDailyNews International, in Theodore Koumelis's write-up of the report, noted that 9.4% of US travelers now begin accommodation research with an AI assistant, against 7.3% globally, and 9.7% expect to book through an AI assistant or agent in 2027, compared with 5.9% worldwide. Globally, AI as a first research stop rose 3.1 points in a year, from 4.2%, while social media sat flat at 9.4%.

Reising framed the commercial task as making the value of each room, upgrade and experience clear wherever a traveler researches and books, so that price is not the only thing a hotel competes on. For the solo segment that matters in a specific way. A single guest weighing whether a Deluxe room is worth it alone could be making that call inside an assistant's answer, before a hotel's own website ever loads, so room descriptions and upgrade details need to make sense outside the hotel's own booking engine.

Hotel Business's reading of the findings is that technology and brand recognition will increasingly coexist in the American booking journey: Americans are more open to AI research and booking, yet familiar hotel brands still shape the final choice. Set beside the 47.8% who rank a trusted brand among their top three factors, that suggests an assistant may build the shortlist while the brand name still closes the sale.

The first real evidence arrives with 2027 booking pace. If single-occupancy reservations at US properties start filling Deluxe and Executive categories, the American premium habit is traveling solo too. If they cluster in standard rooms booked close to arrival, the global solo pattern has reached the US, and rate plans will need to follow it.