US booking sites seeing strong demand for 2022 travel

US booking sites including Vrbo, Hopper and KAYAK are seeing higher demand for spring and summer leisure travel as COVID-19 restrictions ease and travelers appear to be shrugging off added costs to plane tickets and road trips from rising fuel prices. "We are seeing strong booking activity for spring break and the beginnings of a very strong summer," said Jamie Lane, VP of research at AirDNA, which tracks the daily performance of over 10 million properties on vacation rental firms Airbnb and Vrbo. Oil has soared over $100 a barrel as Russia's invasion of Ukraine jolted global markets. But US carriers including Delta, United and American Airlines this week reported a strong rebound in travel demand after the blip caused by the Omicron coronavirus variant. AirDNA data said the booking pace for travel in the northern hemisphere spring is 49% higher than this time last year, and 26% higher than pre-pandemic 2019. "The rush to book summer vacation homes has further accelerated in 2022," said Vrbo earlier this month. The vacation rental booking platform reports demand for properties is already outpacing last summer by 15%. "When reviewing the booking data, it's clear that Omicron was a bigger concern for travelers than rising fuel costs," said Dakota Smith, Chief Strategy Officer at Hopper, a travel booking app. The app, which is popular among younger travelers, has seen a 50% increase in travel booking since Q4 2021.<br/>