Chase flags five summer cities
- Chase Travel’s summer 2026 booking data points U.S. cardholders toward cooler, less-crowded city breaks, with Helsinki and Québec City highlighted alongside Tokyo and Paris. - Chase executive Rena Shah said travelers still want classic capitals, but 2026 demand is tilting toward “secondary markets” that feel more distinctive and local. - The shift follows Chase’s broader 2026 push to steer cardmembers with proprietary booking trends and editorial trip lists. (media.chase.com)
Chase Travel’s summer 2026 data shows U.S. cardholders leaning toward cooler, less-crowded city trips, with Helsinki and Québec City standing out. (cardrates.com) Rena Shah, Chase Travel’s head of lodging and experiences, said travelers still want traditional summer draws such as Paris, Rome and Tokyo. She said the surprise in 2026 is stronger interest in “secondary markets” where travelers can spread out. (cardrates.com) That makes this less a story about Americans abandoning big-name cities than about how they are choosing among them. Chase’s own summer trend coverage last year showed demand clustering around international cities, national parks and lakes, while premium air bookings rose 21% year over year. (media.chase.com) The company has been turning those booking patterns into editorial products. On November 10, 2025, Chase published its “26 Trips to Take in 2026,” saying the list was built from proprietary booking data, consumer survey trends, expert input, cultural events and hotel openings. (media.chase.com) That 2026 list leaned hard into places pitched as distinctive rather than obvious, including the Albanian Riviera, Botswana, the Canadian Arctic, Chile’s Atacama Desert and the Dolomites. Chase said the list was meant to capture destinations “set to define 2026,” not just the most-booked staples. (media.chase.com) (trips.chase.com) Travel Weekly reported this was Chase Travel’s second year producing a big annual destination list, with Valerie Wilson Travel president Karen Magee joining Chase’s Hillary Reinsberg to discuss how it was assembled. That signals Chase is positioning itself as both booking platform and travel tastemaker for cardmembers. (travelweekly.com) (media.chase.com) Outside Chase, the same pattern is showing up in travel coverage that emphasizes value and crowd avoidance. BBC Travel reported on April 27 that travelers are becoming more selective about what feels worth the money, hassle and crowds, with smaller European cities gaining attention. (bbc.co.uk) For summer 2026, that leaves the familiar capitals in place but changes the pitch. Travelers are still booking marquee cities, yet the selling point is increasingly a place that feels cooler, calmer and a little less obvious. (cardrates.com) (bbc.co.uk)
