We traveled much more in 2025 than in 2024. Last year, we logged 28 nights away (23 hotel nights + 5 cruise nights). In 2025, that jumped to 66 nights away (52 land nights + 14 cruise nights).
Looking back, that’s a whole lot of time not sleeping in our own bed.
Quick stats: 52 land nights total (31 together, 19 Sharon solo, 2 Joe solo) + 14 nights on Virgin Voyages.
Hyatt
Nights: 8 together / 1 Sharon / 2 Joe
Brand breakdown
- Hyatt Place – 3 together / 2 Joe
- Hyatt Regency – 2 together / 1 Sharon
- Unbound Collection – 2 together
- Grand Hyatt – 1 together
Featured stay
While all of our Hyatt stays this year were great, the standout was the Great Scotland Yard in London. We’d gladly return to this property as it’s the perfect mix of quirky and classy, which hits the sweet spot for us.
Hilton
Nights: 3 together / 7 Sharon
Brand breakdown
- Homewood Suites – 3 together / 4 Sharon
- Hilton – 3 Sharon
Featured stay
Our Hilton stays weren’t very fancy, as most of the nights were spent at the Homewood Suites in New Braunfels, TX. But Sharon did stay at the Hilton Boston Logan Airport on one of her JetBlue trips, where she got an upgraded room with a city view.
Marriott
Nights: 5 together / 4 Sharon
Brand breakdown
- Renaissance – 3 together
- Aloft – 2 together
- TownePlace Suites – 1 Sharon
- Residence Inn – 1 Sharon
- Westin – 1 Sharon
- Courtyard 1 Sharon
Featured stay
Without a doubt, our standout Marriott stay this year was at the Renaissance Wind Creek Resort in Aruba. While the hotel itself was nice, the best part was the exclusive access to a private island, complete with resident flamingos.
IHG
Nights: 5 together / 2 Sharon
Brand breakdown
- Kimpton – 4 together
- Holiday Inn Express – 1 together / 1 Sharon
- Holiday Inn – 1 Sharon
Featured stay
Our best IHG stay of the year was at the Kimpton Theta in Times Square. We stayed for 4 nights and remembered how nice it is to stay right in the middle of Manhattan.
Disney Vacation Club
Nights: 4 together
Brand breakdown
- Vero Beach – 2 together
- Old Key West – 2 together
Featured stay
We took a short staycation at Walt Disney World and stayed at our home resort, Old Key West. It was the first time we stayed in a while, and it was interesting to see how things have changed since we purchased our timeshare several decades ago.
Cabin
Nights: 4 together
Featured stay
This fall, we made a return visit to Helen, GA and rented a cabin for a few nights. It was a return to one of the first towns we visited during the pandemic, and we wanted to see the place without that hanging over our heads.
Drury Inn
Nights: 1 Sharon
Featured stay
Sharon stayed for 1 night at the Drury Inn near Atlanta Airport during one of her JetBlue trips. Given that she was only there for about 8 hours, this was the only picture of the hotel she took, mostly to show me that she’d arrived safely.
Independent Hotels
Nights: 1 together / 1 Sharon
Featured stay
While our hotel in Portsmouth before our cruise was interesting, I think the Cliff Lodge in Nantucket was the more unique of the two.
Not a hotel, but still a place we stayed
- Virgin Voyages – 14 nights (together)
I have to include the room we stayed in the most over the past year. During our two 7-night cruises, we spent 14 nights in a Sea Terrace XL cabin on Virgin Voyages.
Year in Review
In 2025, we had a combined total of 52 land nights away from home — 31 nights together, plus 19 solo nights for Sharon and 2 solo nights for me. Compared to 2024, we more than doubled our nights away, and this time the mix included more “real trips,” more weekends out, and a lot more variety in where we stayed.
- Hyatt led the traditional hotel chains with 11 nights total, including several standout stays.
- Hilton was right behind with 10 nights, thanks largely to Sharon’s solo trips.
- Marriott came in at 9 nights, highlighted by our stay at the Renaissance Wind Creek Resort in Aruba (and its private island).
- IHG totaled 7 nights, with our Kimpton Theta stay in NYC easily topping the list.
- We also mixed in non-chain stays: 4 Disney Vacation Club nights, 4 cabin nights, and even a few nights that technically count as “couch.”
And then there’s the place we stayed the most — which wasn’t a hotel at all… our 2 Virgin Voyages cruises.
If 2024 was the year we stayed closer to home, 2025 was the year we made up for it. Now we just have to decide what “too many nights away” looks like in 2026.
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