Fall beats summer, and Gen Z books the legend, not the view

Airbnb this week packed two trends into one report.

First: the weekend beats the long holiday. 60% of those surveyed plan a short trip this fall. In 2025 there were more weekend trips in autumn than in any other season. Search terms: fall getaway, leaf peeping, apple picking, fall roadtrip. Not two weeks in Barcelona, but a Friday-to-Sunday in the Catskills, Blue Ridge, or at a covered bridge in Vermont.

Second: Gen Z already calls it lore-tripping. They go not where you are supposed to pose, but to a town with one odd story you will not find anywhere else. 90% of respondents in that generation say small, under-the-radar towns appeal this fall. Nearly half of their autumn bookings are exactly those places.

On the list: Point Pleasant, West Virginia, the Mothman town, with a museum, a statue, and a free festival on 19 and 20 September.

A caveat: this is the platform’s own report, the Gen Z sample is small, and some of the towns sit in the same marketing campaign. The trend looks plausible (against crowds and prices), but the numbers here are closer to marketing than to a census of the whole industry.