By contrast, one classic holiday trip is on the outs this year: skiing.

“Too many families picked up Covid-19 at European ski resorts,” says Indagare’s Bradley. Vail, Colo., emerged as a hotbed of infection for wealthy Mexicans, who then spread it back home. “And the news that there were many who caught it in Sun Valley [Idaho] has created a real fear of being in a ski destination this coming winter.”

By Land or by Sea
Instead, Bradley says her clients are asking about resort buyouts, wherein one guest or group books the whole property.

“Among the most popular buyout options are ranches or island locations,” she says, such as the Ranch at Rock Creek, a “luxury dude ranch” in western Montana, or the lodges at Ted Turner’s four New Mexico wilderness reserves.

They’re also interested in yacht charters. At the start of the global lockdown, one Indagare client hired a boat and had the crew quarantine for 14 days before the trip; the family plans to do the same thing over the holidays.

Villas are in high demand as well, says GeoEx’s Doty. Private homes may seem the safest way to release the pressure value on a pent-up, economically critical travel industry, especially in hard-hit countries such as Italy.

Andrea Grisdale, owner and CEO of Italy specialist IC Bellagio, says that there is such “huge interest” for the upcoming fall-winter season that she has, at times, struggled to find availability for her clients. For now, the European Union is recommending that travel remain limited to domestic and European guests, but Grisdale expects international visitors to return as soon as September.

Beyond solitude and privacy, such buy-outs have the added benefit of allowing space for extended families to come back together.

“We are seeing more multigenerational retreat requests,” Bradley says, with travelers optimistic that by December, social distancing recommendations will relax. “As many families have been forcibly separated, they are eager to gather over the holidays.” 

For some, these holiday trips are becoming lavish, catch-all celebrations, a place to celebrate the missed birthdays, anniversaries, births, and other milestones a Zoom call couldn’t properly honor.