Beach destinations surging in popularity for last-minute Labor Day travel

DALLAS - Labor Day travel is expected to reach its highest levels in six years and more Americans are searching for last-minute deals as the holiday weekend approaches, according to Hotels.com. Hotels.com data shows that last-minute searches made from August 18 to August 24, 2014 for stays during Labor Day weekend have increased by 27% over the equivalent week last year (August 19 to August 25, 2013).

Nearly 35 million Americans are expected to travel 50 miles or more this Labor Day weekend. While many of the most-searched last-minute destinations are also among the most popular domestic destinations for U.S. travelers in 2013, according to the Hotel Price Index, several beach destinations are seeing increased interest as the end of summer nears.

Amidst a rapidly changing gaming industry, Atlantic City, N.J. remains a popular Labor Day destination, attracting the most last-minute searches of any East Coast beach destination and the fifth-most among the top 20 searched destinations. Despite being the 26th most-visited U.S. city in 2013, only Las Vegas, New York, San Diego and Chicago drew more interest over the past week than Atlantic City, which saw 78% more Labor Day searches compared to the same time frame in 2013.

The only beach destination to experience more last-minute searches than Atlantic City was San Diego, which maintained strong travel interest despite California's record drought. Myrtle Beach, S.C. was the second most popular East Coast beach destination and the sixth most-searched in the last week, as it drew 66% more searches than last year. Virginia Beach, Va., Ocean City, Md. and Miami Beach, Fla. rounded out the list of beach towns among the 20 most popular last-minute destinations. Meanwhile, Houston and Chicago saw nearly double the amount of last-minute Labor Day searches compared to last year.

Most Searched Last-Minute Destinations for Labor Day Travel (check-in August 28 - 31, 2014)
Search Rank	City	Search Rank	City
1.	Las Vegas	11.	Virginia Beach, Va.
2.	New York City	12.	Niagara Falls, N.Y.
3.	San Diego	13.	Ocean City, Md.
4.	Chicago	14.	Los Angeles
5.	Atlantic City, N.J.	15.	New Orleans
6.	Myrtle Beach, S.C.	16.	Washington
7.	Orlando, Fla.	17.	Boston
8.	Atlanta	18.	Miami Beach, Fla.
9.	San Francisco	19.	Houston
10.	San Antonio	20.	Austin, Texas

Ranking based on amount of searches performed on Hotels.com U.S. site from August 18 – 24, 2014 for hotel check-ins August 28 – 31, 2014.