The group trip text always ends the same way: everybody wants something different, and somebody’s mother-in-law is not sharing a wall with a stranger’s snoring. This summer, more families and friend groups are skipping that argument entirely. They’re booking one giant house instead of a hallway of hotel rooms and calling it a vacation.
Friend trips and multigenerational family vacations are leaning the same way, since nobody wants to split up into separate rooms down a hallway anymore, and nobody wants to lose the point of traveling together in the first place. A house solves both problems at once; everyone gets their own space, but nobody has to plan a lobby meetup just to eat breakfast together.
The booking numbers back up what the group text already knows: according to KEY.co, a vacation rental platform that vets and lists private homes, the share of bookings for homes with five or more bedrooms has more than doubled since 2024, jumping from 24% to 57%.
What groups are actually booking for
Square footage alone isn’t the draw; groups are booking for specific things a hotel simply can’t offer:
- A private chef for welcome-night dinners, poolside lunches or a full tasting menu.
- Concierge-arranged extras, like in-home massages and beach gear rentals.
- Multiple primary suites, so more than one couple gets real privacy.
- Game rooms and shared spaces built for a group that actually wants to hang out together.
Demand for those add-ons is climbing fast, with concierge bookings up 64% year-over-year and private chef experiences leading the list of what groups are asking for.
The trips are getting bigger and longer
Bigger homes aren’t the only change, since groups are staying longer too. The average number of guests per trip has grown from 5.8 to 7, the share of bookings with six or more guests jumped from 39% to 53%, and trip length is stretching as well, from an average of 4.2 nights to 5.4.
That points to something beyond a quick weekend getaway. Groups aren’t just gathering but settling in.
It’s not just 1 platform
This isn’t one company’s marketing pitch, either: Vrbo built its entire 2026 Vacation Rentals of the Year list around the same idea, spotlighting large homes with private pools, hot tubs and game rooms made for multigenerational groups. The broader market backs it up too, since the luxury vacation rental segment is growing faster than any other part of the industry, driven specifically by travelers who want private chefs, pools and concierge service built into their stay.
So, if the next group trip is turning into its usual group-text debate, it might be worth skipping the hotel search altogether. The house might be the easier call. And this time, everyone gets their own bathroom.
Mandy is a luxury travel, fine dining and bucket-list-adventure journalist with expert insight from 47 countries. She uncovers unforgettable experiences around the world and brings them to life through immersive storytelling that blends indulgence, culture and discovery, and shares them with a global audience as co-founder of Food Drink Life. Her articles appear on MSN and through the Associated Press wire in major U.S. outlets, including NBC, the Daily News, Boston Herald, the Chicago Sun-Times and many more.