Geo-tagging, community building and popular landmarks - a few of the new ways mobile gaming is impacting travel, San Francisco follows New York in number of top ranking US 'Pokétels', Paris is home to 6 of the top 10 'Pokétels' Internationally and free hotel Wi-Fi to play Pokémon Go is more important than free breakfast.

Recent Hotels.com® research reveals New York City has nine of the top ten U.S. "Pokétels" – those hotels with access to the most Pokéstops and Pokégyms within and near the hotel property*. Number one rated U.S. Pokétel, The Towers at Lotte New York Palace , features 11 Pokéstops/gyms located within 500 feet and an additional 231 within 1.25 miles.

Surveying** more than 500 millennial travelers based in the U.S., Hotels.com learned that more than half of millennials (79%) plan to play Pokémon Go on their next vacation, while as many as 48% would consider visiting a new destination because of the popular new game.

"This is an exciting time for the travel industry," said Taylor L. Cole, APR travel expert for Hotels.com. "People are visiting new destinations and exploring landmarks and places they never thought to see – whether it's in your city or across the globe. Our surveys have always shown us how spontaneous travelers can be and Pokémon Go is no exception."

Pokémon Go Hotel Amenities

The Pokémon Go craze has been quickly embraced by hotels as they set up lures and invite guests to search for Pokémon on hotel properties. Within the Pokémon Go fan base, Hotels.com has found that hotel amenity preferences have shifted, as players agree that free Wi-Fi is more important than free breakfast and admit a preference for hotels that are Pokéstops or offer free lures.

While many have speculated that Pokémon Go drives exercise and activity among players, millennial players confessed they're nearly twice as likely to use a Pokégym (44%) than the actual hotel gym (19%).

Pokémon Go U.S. Destinations

To help surveyed millennials achieve their goal of staying in hotels with Pokéstops and Pokégyms, Hotels.com has compiled the top 10 "Pokétels" within the U.S., based on the number of Pokéstops and Pokégyms on hotel properties and within a 1.25 mile radius of the hotel. See below for the highest ranked destinations:

Hotels.com finds New York City offers top hotels for Pokémon Go travelers— Photo by Hotels.comHotels.com finds New York City offers top hotels for Pokémon Go travelers— Photo by Hotels.com
Hotels.com finds New York City offers top hotels for Pokémon Go travelers— Photo by Hotels.com

With New York City dominating the list of top ranking U.S. hotel destinations, Hotels.com has also created a list of top ranking Pokétels across major U.S. cities:

Source: Hotels.comSource: Hotels.com
Source: Hotels.com

Lured to learn, explore and crawl

Americans believe public parks, landmarks and shopping malls are where they will find the most Pokémon. American travelers (44%) who play the mobile game admit they would devote 2-3 hours of playing on their next vacation and walk up to 2.5 miles searching for Pokémon.

Travelers (41%) would explore more of a particular destination when searching for Pokémon. The game has encouraged travelers to explore the top landmarks in search of Pokéstops, including:

  • Central Park
  • Times Square
  • Statue of Liberty
  • Big Ben

 

** Rankings were determined by analyzing the number of Pokéstops/gyms within a 1.25 mile radius of hotel properties. Closer Pokéstop/gyms to the hotel property held more weight in the overall score. The hotels chosen for this analysis were 'top' hotels in a range of cities based on gross booking for 2016 year-to-date.

**500 American adults aged 18-30 were polled by One Poll, commissioned by Hotels.com in July 2016

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