Perfect-ish, Solo-ish, Local-ish: Why Indian Travellers Are Giving Up on the Perfect Trip
A global survey for Hilton finds travellers trading the flawless itinerary for shorter, flexible trips built around what they actually enjoy.
The perfect holiday — every booking flawless, every meal memorable, every photo worth posting — may be going out of fashion. According to Hilton's 2027 Trends Report, travellers increasingly want trips that are good enough on their own terms, rather than perfect by someone else's standard. The hotel group calls the shift "the Rise of 'Ish'".
The report, titled The Great Rebalance and released on September 29, is based on a survey conducted for Hilton by Morning Consult between May 18 and June 1, 2026. It covered 14,744 travellers aged 18 and over in 14 countries, including more than 1,000 respondents in India. It is worth remembering that it comes from a company that sells hotel rooms; its findings reflect one perspective on a much larger market.
What "ish" looks like
Outlook Traveller, unpacking the report for Indian readers, describes several flavours of the trend:
- Perfect-ish: planning around personal tastes instead of trying to get every detail right.
- Healthy-ish: keeping some wellness routines on holiday while relaxing others.
- Adventure-ish: stepping outside your comfort zone, but rarely to extremes.
- Local-ish: mixing famous restaurants with places off the usual trail.
- Solo-ish: travelling alone for part of a trip — extending a work visit, arriving early for a group holiday or joining a small-group tour.
Globally, 54 per cent of respondents said they feel pressure to have the perfect trip. In India, 52 per cent said they felt they had to get every detail right, while 41 per cent said they plan around what they personally enjoy. Forty-two per cent of Indian respondents said they had travelled solo to meet friends or family at their destination.
Shorter, more often
The report's fifth trend, which Hilton calls the Micro-Travel Mindset, may be the most visible in India. Eighty per cent of Indian respondents said they prefer trips that pack a lot into a short time.
Other data cited by Outlook Traveller points the same way. Travel platform Scapia reported that domestic trips over the summer averaged 1.7 nights, that many weekend staycations were booked on the day of check-in, and that a third of its domestic flight bookings were made within 72 hours of departure — with a third coming from tier-2 cities. It describes the pattern as a "micro holiday economy", in which several short breaks replace one long annual holiday.
People still matter
Despite the rise of AI trip-planning tools, human advice still carries weight. Globally, 70 per cent of respondents said they trust hotel staff as a planning resource, and among Indians the figure was 69 per cent. Nature matters too: 87 per cent of Indian respondents said fresh air and the outdoors are essential to relaxing on holiday.
What it means for the industry
Hotel groups are responding by building for shorter, more spontaneous stays. Outlook Traveller reports that Hilton plans to open 125 Hampton by Hilton hotels in India through a partnership with Regenta, largely in the west and south of the country, with five more planned with NILE Hospitality in places including Amritsar, Vrindavan, Raipur and Lonavala.
For travellers, the message of the report is a liberating one: the best trip may not be the most ambitious one, but the one that fits your own idea of a good time.
Sources
This article draws on the following reporting. Dates are when each source was originally published.
- Hilton (press release): The Great Rebalance: Hilton's 2027 Trends Report ·
- Outlook Traveller: The Rise Of 'Ish': What A Great Hotel Stay Means For The New Indian Traveller ·
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