Booking.com reveals that home redecoration starts with a vacation

New York City, New York – March 6, 2018 -- For a third of people across the world, interior design is a serious passion, and our love of beautiful homes is inspired by the world around us, especially by the amazing places we stay when we go on vacation.

Booking.com, the global leader in connecting travelers with the largest selection of incredible places to stay, conducted research across nearly 19,000 global travelers. They found that the interior design of our vacation accommodations can provide such an unforgettable experience that over half of travelers (56%) are motivated to start interior design work inspired by their travels when they return to their own home, rising to 67% among Millennials.

Our desire for our vacations to live on is so strong that a third (32%) of travelers say they want to update their home because they like interior design that reminds them of happy times spent on vacation. One in five (21%) like to recreate their vacation experiences back at home.

In addition to the interior of their vacation accommodations, being inspired by local design ranked highly (44%) in influencing home redecoration. Those interested in following local design should consider Helsinki (Finland), Copenhagen (Denmark), Eindhoven (Netherlands), Graz (Austria) and Milan (Italy) since these are the top five destinations endorsed for design globally by Booking.com travelers*.

Other top sources that influence travelers’ plans to redecorate after their vacation include

• The sights and sounds e.g. colors, textiles of their vacation (36%)
• Being immersed in a new culture (32%)
• Visiting museums, galleries or other places of interest (20%)

Vacations by design

Interior design is also a lead factor in travelers’ decision-making process before booking somewhere to stay. Four in 10 (39%) say the interior design of their accommodations is the most important factor when choosing where they stay. In fact, three in 10 (29%) say they’ve spent more time in their accommodations than originally planned, because they loved the interior design so much (rising to 60% among those from India and 56% among travelers from China).

With such a variety of vacation accommodation options available today, four in 10 (39%) travelers say that it’s the chance to stay somewhere new that inspires them to redecorate their home.

Rental homes (e.g. cottages, villas, gites) are leading the way, with 34% of travelers saying they select these unique types of stay for their inspirational décor, compared to just 25% who select hotels for the same reason. Nearly one in two (47%) support this thinking. They say they’d choose to stay in a vacation home over a hotel if they wanted to experience unique or unusual interior design (increasing to 67% among travelers from Thailand and 71% for travelers from India).

Fresh ideas come from different settings

For the majority of travelers (70%), a key motivation for choosing somewhere to stay on vacation is a design (look and feel) that’s different from their own home. This gives travelers the chance to escape physically and mentally, with two thirds (57%) enjoying being in a completely different setting because it helps them get the most from their vacation. Other reasons for selecting accommodations with different interior designs to their own home include:

• Embracing new experiences while on vacation (54%)
• Experiencing different cultures (45%)
• Enjoying staying in accommodations more unusual than their own home (29%)
• Experiencing different types of design when on vacation before trying a new style in their own home (20%)
• To give them inspiration for future home makeovers (15%)
• Experiencing different styles that they wouldn’t be brave enough to replicate in their own home (15%)

Over half (57%) of travelers report that going on vacation encourages them to be more creative with their home interiors, Booking.com has partnered with interior stylist and lifestyle expert, Will Taylor, to provide practical interior design tips to empower more travelers to bring that vacation feeling home with them. Five of Will’s top tips include**

1. Turn the pieces you fell in love with and brought home from your vacation into statement design features in your house. For example, why not turn a basket into a unique lighting fixture over the dining table, or hang a rug behind the headboard of your bed for an unexpected addition of color, pattern and texture to the room?
2. If you loved the colors you saw when you were traveling, but don’t know how to start bringing them into your home, don’t worry. Look through all of the pictures and purchases you made (postcards, clothes, accessories) and see what the color pattern is. You were probably drawn to one or two hues over others – those are the colors to pick up at the paint store.
3. Shop smart! You’ll fit a lot more local design pieces into your luggage if you leave behind the pieces you can buy back home. So if you find a set of throw pillows you love, take the covers and leave the inserts behind. For example, a neutral couch “revamped” with a series of colorfully patterned kilim pillows from a Moroccan bazaar, will immediately give a warm and exotic bohemian feel to your living room.
4. Scent can be powerful in transporting us back to a vacation. Did you love the feeling and smell of the fireside glow in your Scandinavian apartment? Buy a smoky-wood scented candle and light it on your next snow day to instantly feel like you are back by that cozy fireplace.

Color is an exciting design element and it’s perfect for recreating a vacation memory or favorite view back home. Plus, if you love the colors that are around you, you’re likely to want to spend more time in the space and most importantly, feel happier while you do. Why not DIY an ombre blue wall behind the bed or in your foyer to remind you of that Mediterranean trip of a lifetime? There are countless painting tutorials online that can guide you through creating a design statement like this with paint.

Pepijn Rijvers, Chief Marketing Officer at Booking.com comments: “The experiences we have while on vacation can last for a lifetime; whether that’s the memories we create, the purchases we make or the inspiration we come home with. Passion for interior design is one that spans all continents, and what better way to get new ideas and fresh inspiration than looking to the accommodation we stay in while on vacation.

“At Booking.com we offer 30 different types of accommodations – from home and apartment rentals and B&Bs, to tree houses and igloos, all of which are designed to give travelers the ultimate vacation experience, and may even inspire them to make home décor changes in the process.”