TL;DR
- ALL Accor has released its Experiential Travel Trends 2026 report with trend forecasting agency Globetrender, spotlighting eight emotion-led travel trends
- 25% of travellers want to start their holiday searches with ‘mood’ rather than destination, prioritising how a trip feels over where it goes
- The report covers vibes from awe and joy to nostalgia and surprise, with 89% saying live events make travel worthwhile
- UK agents can use ALL.com to build vibe-based bookings around Accor hotels, bundling mood-matching experiences and loyalty points
- Trends include playful hotel design (wanted by 31.5% of travellers) and theatrical dining experiences (43%)
Mood Before Map Pin
Something interesting is happening with how people book holidays. On 16 January, ALL Accor and trend forecasting agency Globetrender released their Experiential Travel Trends 2026 report, based on research into thousands of travellers’ behaviours. The headline finding? A quarter of travellers now want to start their online searches with a mood, not a map pin.
The report identifies eight vibe-led trends reshaping travel: the Endorphin Economy (chasing awe), Hyper Playgrounds (pure joy), Portable Lifestyles (freedom), Social Wellness (connection), Memory Lanes (nostalgia), Earth Syncing (serenity), Unfiltered Journeys (surprise), and Points Maxxing (prestige). Each one reflects how travellers are treating holidays as emotional regulators, seeking moments that deliver specific feelings in an uncertain world.
The Vibe Economy In Numbers
The stats paint a clear picture. Eighty-nine per cent of respondents say live events make travel worthwhile, while 31.5% are actively seeking hotels with playful design elements. Another 43% are drawn to restaurants offering performance or theatre alongside their meals.
Take Dubai’s dine-in-the-sky experience as an example: dinner 50 metres in the air, bookable for 18,302 ALL Accor Reward points. It’s the kind of moment-led proposition that fits squarely into what the report calls the Endorphin Economy, where travellers chase awe-inducing moments over sightseeing checklists.
Building Mood-Led Itineraries With ALL.com
For UK agents, this opens up a different angle for building itineraries around Accor properties. ALL.com lets you bundle hotels with experiences that match these mood-driven searches: concert packages at Paris Accor Arena for connection, Monaco Grand Prix balcony views for prestige, or wellness retreats for serenity.
The platform’s loyalty programme becomes more relevant here too. When clients are chasing feelings rather than ticking off landmarks, the ability to redeem points for experiential add-ons makes the emotional appeal stronger.
Starting With “How Do You Want To Feel?”
This report gives you language for a different kind of discovery conversation. Instead of opening with “where do you want to go?”, you might start with “how do you want to feel?” That approach can surface preferences clients haven’t articulated before, especially those who are bored of their usual haunts or struggling to narrow down options.
The Globetrender report includes what they call a Vibe Menu, designed to help structure these mood-driven trips. It’s worth a browse for framing your own client chats, particularly with travellers who’ve done the classic routes and want something more emotionally targeted.
