Airbnb data reveals top destination for family bookings in each state

(KDVR/NEXSTAR) – Summer is soon coming to an end. The kids are heading back to school, your job is getting crazy, and — let’s face it — the windows aren’t going to weatherize themselves.

In other words, there’s little time for another fun family vacation before the season’s over.

But there’s always next year. And if you start planning early, you just might be able to book a few nights at some of the most popular (and unexpected) U.S. travel destinations for families.

After all, family vacations have come a long way since your last trip to Colonial Williamsburg.

To illustrate this point, Airbnb has recently revealed the top-booked travel destinations for families in every state. Using data obtained from the first half of 2023, Airbnb focused only on “family night” bookings (i.e., guests traveling with kids) to find out where folks planned to go in June, July and August.

Is unlimited vacation time really unlimited?

So where, exactly, were they headed?

In some cases, the results weren’t too surprising. The top destinations in California and Florida, for instance, were Anaheim and Bay Lake — home to Disneyland and Disney World, respectively. But other top destinations weren’t so obvious, like Granby, Colorado, which beat out tourist-hotspots like Telluride or Vail. Or Lake Havasu City in Arizona, which edged out the Grand Canyon as the No. 1 family-booked destination for Airbnb users.

Families traveling to other parts of the country opted for more traditional beach vacations or lakeside destinations. But as Airbnb pointed out, many headed straight to the city.

“While there are tried and true family destinations on the list such as Gulf Shores, AL, Traverse City, MI and Pigeon Forge, TN — we also find some big cities such as Saint Paul, MN, Baltimore, MD and Cincinnati, OH on the list,” Airbnb wrote of its findings.

As indicated by Airbnb, bookings for family travel in the first half of 2023 had also increased 10% over the same time period in 2022, indicating increased interest in family trips — or at least increased interest in Airbnb properties for families looking to get away.

More information, including an interactive map of each state’s top-booked family locale, can be found at Airbnb’s official website.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WesternSlopeNow.com.