Hotwire survey reveals that Americans spend nearly $18b. on "Obli-cations"

SAN FRANCISCO - Hotwire.com revealed more results from its third annual American Travel Behavior Survey, conducted online on its behalf by Harris Poll in October 2013 among over 2,000 U.S. adults. According to the survey, American adults spent nearly $185 billion1 on trips they felt obliged to take2 during the last 12 months. With so much money allocated to obligatory travel, travelers may be thinking about putting off the fun trips they want to take. Fortunately, the travel experts at Hotwire have compiled a list of 10 fantastic destinations that offer the most affordable hotel options during the latter half of summer—all of which are showing average nightly rates of less than $100 a night.

"Every year, many Americans set aside travel budgets only to find that obligatory events like weddings, birthdays and even holidays often hinder their leisure trip plans," said Henrik Kjellberg, president of the Hotwire Group. "That's where we come in; Hotwire is a great resource for making either 'obli-cations' or vacations more affordable, and late summer looks like the perfect time to take the latter, with an array of popular destinations offering some stellar deals."

A further breakdown on how much money American adults spent on obligation travel in the past 12 months includes:

• Spent an average of $32 billion3 on obligation trips for birthdays
• Spent an average of $20 billion4 on obligation trips to weddings of family and friends
• Spent an average of $11 billion5 on obligation trips for reunions
• Spent an average of $7 billion6 on obligation trips for baby/wedding showers.

No matter what type of trip they've had to take, obligatory travelers will be delighted to hear that mid-to late-summer discounts are deep enough for them to fit the "just for fun" trip they've been desiring (and deserve) into their budget. Of the 25 most popular destinations during mid- to late-summer, here are the top 10 most affordable, based on average nightly rates for hotels:  

TripAdvisor TripIndex Vacation Rentals 
   

Destination	Avg. Hotel Price on Hotwire*
Orlando, Florida	$56
Reno – Tahoe	$69
Salt Lake City, Utah	$70
Prague, Czech Republic	$72
Atlanta, Georgia	$75
Dallas – Fort Worth, Texas	$78
Fort Lauderdale, Florida	$78
Minneapolis, Minnesota	$80
Las Vegas, Nevada	$91
St. Louis, Missouri	$92

* The 10 destinations and average prices for mid- to late-summer are based on hotel bookings made on Hotwire.com from 5/1- 6/11/14 for travel between 8/1-9/30/14 compared to bookings made on Hotwire from 5/1 - 6/11/13 for travel between 8/1-9/30/13.