Are you rage-booking your next vacation? Here’s how to stop
It was a $12,000 vacation to Bali, booked late one night after a stressful business meeting. Sydney Ceruto, a neuropsychologist, remembers it well, because it happened to one of her patients. “She told me later she didn’t even want to go,” Ceruto says. “She just needed to feel like she was escaping.” We are living in the age of rage-booking, the impulsive travel purchase driven by exhaustion, anger, or heartbreak rather than any real desire to see a place. More than half of American travelers say they feel exhausted, and a striking share admit they have booked a trip purely to get away from their lives. It is reshaping how the whole industry sells to you, and some companies have figured out exactly how to profit from your worst, most depleted moments. The question is whether you can catch yourself before you click, and there are clearer warning signs than you might think.