Online reviews have become a much stronger influence on Gen Z hotel bookings than brand names, according to new research from Rival Technologies. Nearly two-thirds (61 percent) of Gen Z travelers say online reviews are the biggest influence on where they book, while just 14 percent cite a hotel’s brand name.
For marketers in the travel and hospitality space, the findings suggest that reputation built through guest experiences now carries more weight with Gen Z than traditional brand recognition.
Beyond reviews, Gen Z travelers also place a high value on practical amenities. Nearly half (48 percent) say features such as a pool, gym or breakfast influence where they stay. Free breakfast (56 percent) and free Wi-Fi (50 percent) rank alongside loyalty rewards (48 percent), while social media influences just 12 percent of booking decisions.
The study also highlights several trends shaping how the next generation of guests book travel:
- Hotels lead but no longer dominate. Only 43 percent of Gen Z default to a hotel, while 27 percent say it depends on the trip and 21 percent choose Airbnb, leaving most of this generation open to alternatives on any given trip.
- Loyalty appetite grows with age. Interest in rewards programs nearly doubles across the cohort, from 13 percent among 18-to-20-year-olds to 24 percent among 25-to-29-year-olds, along with rising interest in upgrades, flexible cancellation and early or late check-in.
- Reviews and breakfast are universal. Both hold steady as top factors across every age band, making them table stakes rather than differentiators.
- US and Canadian travelers diverge. Canadian Gen Z lean even harder on reviews (66 percent versus 57 percent) and are more likely to skip loyalty programs entirely (21 percent versus 13 percent), while US Gen Z place more weight on free WiFi (57 percent versus 43 percent) and digital check-in (25 percent versus 12 percent).
- The trip itself is about meaning, not status. Beyond booking, 84 percent of Gen Z say the most meaningful trip is one that changes how they think, and 79 percent value experiences they do not photograph over getting great photos.
“Gen Z is one of the travel industry’s most important growth audiences, but many assumptions about how they make decisions no longer hold,” said Paula Catoira, chief marketing officer at Rival Group. “Reviews, recommendations and authentic experiences carry significant weight. Understanding why those choices are made requires ongoing conversations rather than occasional surveys.”
The qualitative findings underscored how grounded and practical Gen Z has become about where they stay. One participant described the ideal trip as “a great place to stay in a prime location,” while another pointed to “stress-free planning, making the most of my time, and staying in a nice hotel.” The emphasis was on function, location and value, rarely on a brand name.
Rival helps hospitality and consumer brands understand changing customer expectations through insight communities, Voice of Market studies and continuous research programs. The company’s Emerging Consumer Index tracks Gen Z attitudes across the U.S. and Canada through biweekly research, giving subscribers regularly refreshed data that can be explored through AI-assisted exploration tools, while helping keep synthetic audiences and large language models grounded in real human data.
This study surveyed 878 Gen Z participants aged 18 to 29 across the United States (443) and Canada (435) from Rival’s proprietary panels in July 2026, and was conducted using Rival’s conversational research platform. It captured both quantitative and qualitative feedback in a single 10-minute conversational survey.
To access the report: https://www.rivaltech.com/gen-z-travel
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