Have you heard about holidating yet?
1 in 3 say they have gone on holiday with someone they’ve dated for less than three months
Romantic getaways are no longer the reserve of couples who are madly in love — or need to add some spice to their relationship.
These days, people are catching flights before they catch lasting feelings, and going on so-called “holidates” — holidays with someone they’ve known for less than 90 days.
With cheaper flights and accommodation options almost anywhere (thanks to platforms like AirBnB), the trend is booming, according to over 1,300 of our bees.
Holidating? Do I look stupid?
More than 1 in 3 people (37%) have gone on a holidate, a number that’s consistent for men and women across all age bands.
This still leaves around 2 in 3 people who have not done it before, many of which cited the obvious drawbacks.
“No, because I hardly know them,” said one woman, 40. Other respondents were more blunt.
“Do I look stupid?” said a male respondent, 37.
But those that had holidated before gave some stellar reviews.
“It’s fun, exciting and going abroad gives you a sense of freedom to express yourselves,” a 28-year-old male respondent said.
“It’s awesome when you meet new people and go on new adventures,” said a female respondent, aged 24. “That’s how you build life experiences.”
For another female respondent, it was a way to kill two birds with one stone. “It was good to meet his family right off the bat instead of waiting.”
It’s never too late to holidate
These glowing reviews may not have you convinced — yet — but holidating has an 85% approval rating — and again this is largely the same across all age groups and yes, for men and women.
As for whether people would do it again, not quite as many said they would — hey you’ve got to try it at least once, right? — but it’s still around 7 in 10 overall (69%). Older people, more of whom will have settled down, are less likely to do it again — but even then, 63% of those aged 46 and over would give it another go if the opportunity was right.
We also found a special group of people who wouldn’t do it again. A fair number of our respondents ended up in a serious relationship with someone after a holidate — with some even marrying them!
Americans holidate more but older Brits do it in style
But what about the difference in cultural attitudes? Well, Americans are more likely to have gone on a holidate than Brits — 45% vs 28% respectively.
Brits that do holidate, though, are far more likely to travel abroad (61%) than their counterparts across the pond (18%) — understandable given the geography of both nations. Indeed, older Brits take real advantage of the UK’s close proximity to Europe, with 65% of those aged 35 and over saying they had holidated abroad — the largest proportion of any age group.
And when it comes to really pulling out all the stops, older Brits are again the most keen. Almost 1 in 4 (23%) of them say they’ve taken a long-haul journey with their holidate partner — more than any other age group, much more than older Americans (2%).
A new kind of tourism?
There is certainly a growing market for holidating. Even amongst those who hadn’t gone before, 2 in 5 said they could see themselves doing it in the future.
And as we’ve seen, this is not something that just appeals to the young. Older people, perhaps because of their greater spending power, are just as likely both to have gone on a holidate and consider going on one.
Whether they leave the country or not, the most popular duration is a few days — with 47% of holidaters saying they’d gone for that long. In contrast, 27% went away for a week while only 9% spent just one night. It would seem that couples do want to take the time to get to know each other.
Package holidays have been around for almost 40 years. Now with cheaper travel, a plethora of accommodation options and people seemingly more willing to take the risk, is it now time for package dates?
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A quick word on our methodology: The figures in the article are taken from Streetbees community members in the UK and US, carried out in May 2018. All of the data was collected by mobile and web surveys, and is accurate to within 3 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
