How We Produced This Guide
We polled 1,000 millennials that use HomeToGo to find out what their top priorities are when planning a vacation. From this polling, six main categories emerged: Affordable airline fares, a plethora of experiences, instagrammability, affordable food and drink, vibrant nightlife, and affordable accommodation. Next, we examined more than 500 locations in the U.S. to see which destinations best satisfied their criteria - with the top 50 being selected for our final shortlist.
After obtaining the raw data for each of the locations, we assigned each data point a representative numerical value between 5 and 10, with 5 representing the lowest data point and 10 representing the highest data point. We used the following equation in order to calculate this for every factor:
Score(i) = 5* ( ( (x(i) - x(min) ) / ( (x(max) - x(min) ) ) + 5
How Each Factor was Calculated
Airline Affordability Score: We created the Airline Affordability Score using data provided by the United States Department of Transportation on average domestic airfare as of Q2 2018. The city with the most affordable domestic airfare was awarded a maximum score of 10, and every other city was awarded a score based on the equation above. https://www.transtats.bts.gov/AIRFARES/
Experiences Score: We created the Experiences Score using data provided by a leading online travel agent for tours and activities. The city with the highest number of experiences on offer was awarded a maximum score of 10, and every other city was awarded a score based on the equation above.
Food and Drink Score: We created the food and drink score using online menus available on Yelp. We researched the average price of one portion of avocado toast and one regular latte at restaurants in Yelp’s $$ category. The city with the cheapest average prices for one portion of avocado toast and a regular latte was awarded a maximum score of 10, and every other city was awarded a score based on the equation above.
Nightlife Score: We created the Nightlife Score based on data provided by Google Maps. We researched the number of nightclubs in each of the respective cities, and the average rating given to them by patrons. The city with the highest number of top-rated nightclubs was awarded a maximum score of 10, and every other city was awarded a score based on the equation above.
Instagrammability Score: We created the Instagrammability Score based on data provided by Instagram, combined with visitor data provided by the tourist boards. We compared the number of hashtags of the respective city (for example, #miami) to the number of annual visitors. The city with the highest ratio of hashtags to visitors was awarded a maximum score of 10, and every other city was awarded a score based on the equation above.
Accommodation Affordability Score: We created the Accommodation Affordability Score using HomeToGo’s own metasearch data. We researched the average price of accommodation for one night in the 50 cities for the entire of 2019. The city with the lowest average accommodation price was awarded a maximum score of 10, and every other city was awarded a score based on the equation above.
*Data from Pew Research, 2018. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/01/millennials-overtake-baby-boomers/
**Data from Expedia Media Solutions' 2017 poll of 1,001 U.S. millennial travelers. https://advertising.expedia.com/about/press-releases/us-millennial-travelers-are-relaxed-romantic-and-embrace-yolo
For additional information, please contact press@hometogo.com.
