MMGY Travel Intelligence reported in August that most of the 1,200 would-be vacationers it surveyed plan to travel by car during the next six months. The 73 percent of respondents over 18 years of age who plan a road trip is up by 6 percent compared to a similar survey in July.

These days, travel consumers rank health and safety as the number-one guest amenity in the age of COVID-19. And they feel more in control behind the wheel versus on an airline or cruise ship.

“The road is king,” says Andrew Alexander, president of Red Roof, in a recent interview with Lodging Leaders.

What’s also hot are exterior corridor motels. The same road trippers who plan to drive to their vacation destinations this year favor the old-fashioned motels for the same health and safety reasons.

In this episode of Lodging Leaders, we explore trends in road travel that give lodging customers a greater sense of control during the coronavirus pandemic and how you can prepare your property to receive guests who value safety and certainty.

We feature Alexander and Matt Hostetler, chief development officer at Red Roof; Michael Mueller, president of Super 8 at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts; Harry Sladich, executive vice president of lodging development and franchise operations at Red Lion Hotels Corporation; and Bryan Tubaugh, executive vice president at Focus Hospitality Management, manager of the newly opened The Tuxon, a boutique motel in Tucson, Arizona.