Comedic actress Megan Stalter (“Hacks,”
“Too Much”) stars in a new campaign from IHG Hotels & Resorts, telling viewers to just “book the trip already!” across a series of ads.
As a high-energy
“vacation coach,” Stalter responds to a series of common excuses for avoiding taking a vacation. Stalter’s “no excuses” attitude motivates a series of different travelers
to stop deliberating and “Book the Vacation.”
The approach addresses real feelings of anxiety consumers
have about vacation travel. A recent survey of 2,000 American consumers commissioned by IHG found that 57% of respondents finish the year without taking all their vacation days. Many have anxieties
around requesting the time off, with 10% saying they feel more anxiety asking for time off than parallel parking in front of a crowd, and 21% saying it’s more anxiety-provoking than sending
dinner orders back at a restaurant.
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Around one in four respondents said they felt guilty taking vacation time. The most common source of guilt was over travel expenses, with 29% expressing
guilt over the cost of vacation travel, followed by guilt over leaving behind pets at 27%.
Yet people really want vacation time. Forty-three percent of respondents said they would give up
alcohol for the rest of the year in exchange for an extra two weeks of vacation, and a third said they’d give up social media.
"Everyone deserves to make time for themselves, so we're
giving travelers permission to do just that. Megan's lovable charm and humor bring this campaign to life in a way that's fun, relatable and impossible to ignore," Connor Smith, senior vice president
for global brands - luxury, lifestyle, masterbrand and global creative director for IHG Hotels & Resorts, said in a statement.
The brand is tying the campaign to limited-time "Take The
Vacation – No Excuses” packages at IHG properties across the country. The packages offer rate discounts of up to 25%, as well as “a fun surprise” for guests who say “Book
it Already!” at check-in, with themed curated itineraries across “Group Chat Getaways,” “Sweethearts Escapes,” “Fam-tastic Escapades,” and”Me, Myself
and Solo” packages.