Whirlwind Tours Getting Hot

A three-night China tour will kick off in July with a 5 a.m. wake-up call. Travelers will take in a solar eclipse (astronomer provided) on Mount Emei, followed by visits to a Giant Buddha statue, an embroidery workshop, an opera (performer interviews included) and meetings with families, students and baby pandas. Seventy-two hours later, it will be time to head home.

Whirlwind Tours, Secretly On Its Way

Tour operator Remote Lands, whose shortest China tours used to be five or six days, is one of many vacation companies putting its trips on fast-forward. This year, travelers can book a one-night Caribbean spring break trip, or a two-day African safari. Hotels and resorts are throwing out the minimum-stay requirements that used to widen their profit margins, and admitting guests who only want to stay a night or two.

1 night in Guilin. Amazing tour to accknowledge rice culture in China. Trip includes Dragon Back Rice Terrace, also hot spring for good relaxation. Price $113 per person.

2 nights in Shanghai, including famous sites like The Bund, Oriental Pearl TV Tower, etc. Price $562 per person.

2 nights in Xi'an. Great chance to see ancient Chinese culture. Price $444 per person.

3 nights in Lhasa. Trip includes main Tibetan Buddhist temples, plus Barkhor and Norbulingka Park. Price 1,126 per person.

The shorter trips are designed to woo customers who otherwise might not be booking at all, or people worried about spending time away from the office. Many tour operators are reporting bookings down 20% or more. PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates 2009 U.S. hotel occupancy will fall to 56.5% -- the lowest in more than 20 years. Americans have also been shrinking their vacations for decades -- to 3.3 nights on average, the U.S. Travel Association says.

Whirlwind tours can involve a little whiplash. This year, Sunny Land Tours, which specializes in Central American travel, began advertising four-day trips to Costa Rica, alongside its typical eight- or nine-day itineraries, after getting more requests for shorter custom trips there. One challenge: navigating Costa Rica's rough roads when in a hurry. "It can be done, but you really must know what you're doing," says Lori Sidawi, the company's president. The three-night adventure package can include a canopy tour, visits to the cloud forest and a volcano, and a dunk in hot springs. "Before you know it, you're back at the airport for your flight," Ms. Sidawi says.

Less Time, No Less Enjoyment

This Saturday, tobacco-company executive Andre Benoit and his wife will take a morning flight on Air Canada from their home in Toronto to Bogota, Colombia, then take a small plane to Quito, Ecuador, arriving at 11 p.m. The following morning, they hop another small plane to get to the Galapagos Islands, where they'll spend 3 and half days touring black lava and white sand beaches and looking at blue-footed boobies, sea lions and other wildlife. They'll spend a day and a half in Quito on the way home, then take a red-eye back to Toronto the following Saturday.

Mr. Benoit says he planned the trip just a couple of weeks ago for his wife's 50th birthday. "We both work, and this was the only time possible," he says. He chose a Maryland-based tour operator called Blue Parallel because its Web site emphasizes quick trips. The company's motto: "We take individuals who are short on time, and high on life."

For safaris, the trick is to shrink the trip, but still send travelers home satisfied that they've seen a lot of animals. Ina Steinhilber, sales and marketing manager of Thomson Safaris, a 28-year-old Tanzania tour operator, has gotten so many requests this year for short safaris that her company has sharply increased its short tours, offering custom itineraries of as short as two days, instead of the usual nine. Instead of traveling to multiple camps around Tanzania, travelers focus on one specific area, like a 10-mile-wide collapsed volcano that has hyenas, elephants and wildebeest, but no giraffes as in some other areas.

The shift to shorter stays is also happening closer to home. When Mayflower Inn & Spa opened 2 and half years ago in Washington, Conn., all spa guests had to stay for four nights or more. But at $5,700 for four nights (including meals and spa treatments), potential customers were hesitating. The Mayflower has gradually been scaling back minimum requirements, and as of December, guests can come for one night and buy spa treatments and meals a la carte, starting at $400 a night for a room.

General Manager John Trevenen says, "In these times of stress people need to get away, but they can't afford to be away very long."

Minimum Time of Stay Cancelled

When demand was high, long cancellation windows and steep deposits helped solve a big challenge for hotels: predicting how busy they'd be and how much staff they'd need. And minimum stays meant rooms didn't turn over as frequently, cutting check-in costs and making it easier for hotels to fill rooms on low-demand nights such as Sundays.

But many resorts now feel they can't afford to draw that line. The Grace Bay Club in the Caribbean's Turks and Caicos, with room rates starting at $550 a night, usually enforces a five-night minimum during busy weeks like those including President's Day and Easter. But this year, the resort is waiving them for those who ask -- though it's not advertising that offer. "I have to be honest, we are being very flexible for our guests this year," says Nikheel Advani, the resort's chief operating officer and principal. He's seen the average stay shrink to 5.2 nights last year from 7.2 nights in 2004 -- with four nights "the popular thing" in 2009.

In Colorado, Vail Mountain Lodge & Spa says January bookings are down by about 20% from last year. So the resort has removed its usual four- or seven-night minimums for peak season between President's Day and the end of March. Frank Johnson, the resort's general manager, says that when business was stronger, enforcing strict minimums made sense.

Seth Miller started taking short trips a year or two ago, to save money and fit his travel within limited vacation time restraints. Last week, the 31-year-old IT consultant from New York went to Trinidad and Tobago, leaving on Saturday and returning Monday morning. "It basically left me on the ground for about 36 hours, then you figure, scratch 12 hours for sleeping," he says.

Mr. Miller spent Sunday morning on Tobago, snorkeling and wandering around the island, and then flew to Trinidad. He hoped to catch some pre-Carnival parties, but his timing didn't coincide with any, so he ended up watching the Super Bowl at a local bar. "You roll with what happens and take it in stride," he says. Next morning, he returned to New York.