Monthly Archives: June 2014

Reprinted from a Travel Pulse article by James Shillinglaw, June 24, 2014

For the past 10 years, the travel industry was focused on Baby Boomers, who were considered the most lucrative market. As Boomers got older, it was assumed, they would have more time and more money to travel.

That certainly has been the case over the last decade, and boomers continue to be a major market for travel. But now the industry may want to refocus on the often forgotten Millennial or Gen Y traveler, at least according to the 2014 Portrait of American Travelers, an annual survey by MMGY Global, a travel marketing services firm.

According to the survey, Millennials (those between the ages of 18 and 35) will be the driving force behind the continued recovery of the U.S. travel industry. They are also expected to spend incrementally more on travel services than any other age group over the next 12 months.

The survey found that 24 percent of Millennial travelers are planning to take more overnight leisure trips in the next 12 months, versus 14 percent who are planning fewer trips, a net difference of 10 percent. This compares with a negative net difference of 1 percent for Boomers, and negative net differences of 3 percent and 6 percent for Matures and Xers, respectively.

Gen Y-ers also plan to spend significantly more on leisure travel services in the next 12 months, well ahead than any of the other generational cohorts: an average of $887 on a previous-year base of $4,499. Gen Xers intend to spend the second highest increment: $666 on a previous-year base of $4,341.

According the MMGY Global, both trends are consistent with the manner in which Millennials view the sanctity of their vacation time. Last year they took an average of 4.6 overnight trips for leisure purposes versus an average of 4.2 trips for all U.S. households with an annual income over $50,000.

“Six in 10 Millennials would rather spend their money on experiences than material things,” said Steve Cohen, vice president of insights for MMGY Global. “This is presumably one of the reasons we’ve observed the spike in their intentions with respect to leisure travel in the year ahead … Millennials’ planning, booking and sharing habits are significantly different from those of older leisure travelers.”

All this could be good for travel agents. In an earlier survey for the American Society of Travel Agents on the value of using a travel agent, MMGY Global found nearly 60 percent of Millennials who used travel agents believed that their vacations were better than those organized without their assistance. The study also found that consumers that use an agent travel more (average 4.7 trips) than consumers that don’t use a travel agent (average 3.6 trips).

On the other hand, Millennials’ travel interests don’t always extend to more distant destinations. Gen Y-ers are more likely to have taken a “staycation” during the last 12 months than all other travelers. Thirty-three percent took at least one vacation within 50 miles of their home, versus 27 percent among all other leisure travelers. One third said their choice was made to save money to take a more substantial vacation during the year ahead.

The MMGY Portrait of American Travelers, now in its 24th year, reflects the lifestyles and travel behavior of approximately 57 million American households who spent an average of $4,429 on leisure travel in the last year. Collectively, they represent nearly $240 billion in U.S. travel spending. The survey polls 2,550 active leisure travelers who reside in households with an annual income of $50,000 or more and who have taken at least one leisure trip of 75 miles or more from home during the previous 12 months on which they used overnight accommodations.

I found this little car while searching for old photos of my Dad, to display at his funeral service yesterday. He was a man who firmly believed that fulfillment in life comes from pursuing our personal goals.

The image of this little red car has stuck in my brain since I was 8 years old, and it has driven me to lust for a real, red Ferrari ever since. It’s the HO-gauge slot car that I raced quite often against my brother’s Ford GT40 (in Gulf livery). I could never shake the image of either car.

I confessed this lust to my Dad a quarter-century ago, and he told me, “Then you’d better start your own business, because you’ll never be able to buy a Ferrari working for someone else.” I started my own business 18 years ago, and today Springwood provides a good living for nearly 100 people, including several who have become my closest compatriots.

Finding that old car at the bottom of a musty box this week gave me nearly as big a thrill as finding the real thing in my driveway.

Dave Hogg

Harold H. Hogg, 86, of Naples, FL went to be with his Lord on June 3, 2014 after a brief illness. He was the husband of Ruth (Haigh) Hogg for 64 years. He was born on June 9, 1927 to the late Dr. William L. Hogg and Mildred R. Hogg in Leechburg, PA. Harold graduated from Edgewood High School, Pittsburgh, PA in 1945 and graduated from Duke University in 1948. He attended Yale Divinity School for post-graduate work, then managed Whitlock’s Book Store in New Haven, CT. He and Ruth were married at Advent Lutheran Church in York, PA in 1949. In 1951 they moved to York, PA where Harold worked construction for developer Paul Binder and completed the Construction curriculum at Penn State York. In 1952 Harold pursued his entrepreneurial passion and started his own construction company. He began as a homebuilder, and Harold H. Hogg, Inc. eventually became a leader in commercial construction in south central PA and central MD. The company name changed to Hogg Construction in 1995 when his son James Hogg purchased the business.

Starting in the 1970’s, Harold led investment groups that purchased commercial properties including, among others, Northgate Shopping Center in York, PA, Clearview Shopping Center in Hanover, PA, and the original Hungerford factory in Shrewsbury, PA that later became Shrewsbury Courtyards senior apartments. In 1992 he led the development of what is now the Holiday Inn Express hotel on Leader Heights Road in York, PA, and in 1997 he acquired and rebranded the Quality Inn Ocean Palms beachfront hotel in Daytona Beach Shores, FL. Harold’s properties became the first clients and enabled his son David Hogg to start Springwood Real Estate Services and Springwood Hospitality in York, PA in 1996.

An undergraduate philosophy major, Harold lived a life inspired by Pericles, “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” Harold served as an elder in the First Presbyterian Church in York, PA, Chair of the Scholarship Committee (for students at Palm Beach Atlantic University) at Royal Poinciana Chapel in Palm Beach, FL, member of the National Insurance Board of Trustees of Associated Builders & Contractors, and Beam Club member of the Keystone Chapter of Associated Builders & Contractors. Harold created and endowed the Hogg Family Chair in Engineering Management and Entrepreneurship at Duke University; he established the William L. Hogg Fund to benefit Jumonville Christian camp (founded by Harold’s father) in Hopwood, PA; and he established two private family foundations to serve Christian and secular not-for-profit organizations in the local communities where his surviving descendants live and work.

In addition to his wife, Ruth, he is survived by two sons who inherited his entrepreneurial spirit, James and his wife Patricia (Krall), and David and his wife Barbara (Bentz), and by four young men of extraordinary character he was blessed to call his grandsons Andrew and his wife Victoria (Schmidt), Stephen and his wife Sarah (Foard), Michael and Matthew, and by four precious great-granddaughters Ella, Sophia, Ava and Madeline.

A memorial service will be held Thursday, June 12, 2014 at 3:00 pm at Advent Lutheran Church, 1775 E. Market Street, York, PA with Pastor Ken Mahanes of Palm Beach Atlantic University and Pastor David L. Ritterpusch officiating. Visitation will be held from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm at Owens Hall in the church. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (www.lls.org) or to the Palm Beach Atlantic University Annual Scholarship Fund (www.pba.edu/annual-scholarship).