Gen Z Is Booking Salem for a Spooky Halloween Weekend

Searches for a Halloween weekend getaway are climbing fast. According to Airbnb's travel newsroom, searches for stays over Halloween weekend are up nearly fifteen percent compared with last year, and Gen Z travelers are driving the sharpest increase — their searches are up almost forty-five percent year over year.

This year Halloween falls on a Saturday, which gives travelers a natural reason to stretch the holiday into a full weekend away. Airbnb says travelers are increasingly treating the occasion as a weekend trip rather than a single-night celebration. The saving behavior backs that up: wishlists with Halloween-inspired titles are up almost sixty percent year over year, and wishlists with "witch" in the title are climbing by a similar share.

The numbers point to a generational shift in how the holiday gets celebrated. Instead of one night of costumes and candy, Halloween is turning into a full travel occasion — the kind young travelers plan around the way they plan summer trips, complete with group chats, shared wishlists, and early bookings.

Salem Leads the Halloween Weekend Rush

No destination is riding the wave harder than Salem, Massachusetts. The city famous for its witch-trial history is Airbnb's top trending US destination for Halloween weekend, according to the company's seasonal roundup. Local listings are leaning into the moment: among the most-searched Salem properties are a 1913 Colonial Revival condo overlooking Salem Common and a gothic Victorian private room behind a wrought-iron gate in the historic McIntire District.

Salem's draw is no accident. The city goes all-in on October, with haunted happenings, costume events, and candlelit tours filling the calendar all month long. That programming turns a single holiday into a weeks-long season — exactly the kind of immersive trip that appeals to travelers who plan around themes rather than hotel loyalty programs.

Beyond Salem, Airbnb has rounded up thirty-one stays across five October moods: on-screen landmarks, gothic estates, witchy retreats, cabins deep in the woods, and homes whose hosts describe them as possibly haunted. The screen-to-stay picks include a Pennsylvania Victorian that served as a filming location for an Academy Award-winning thriller and a Georgia home that recreates a fictional family's 1980s residence down to the smallest detail.

Why Gen Z Is Driving the Halloween Weekend Surge

The Gen Z numbers are the real story here. While searches are climbing across every generation, the Gen Z growth rate is roughly three times the overall average — a gap that points to experience-first spending habits. Gen Z travelers treat themed trips as social events worth building a weekend around, and Halloween is the most theme-ready holiday on the calendar. As reported by YPulse, which has been tracking the trend under the nickname "Saturween," their travel data shows "over half have or are interested in visiting a themed Airbnb."

Group rentals fit that math better than hotel blocks. Splitting a whole house keeps costs down per person while keeping everyone under one roof — and the format matters for Halloween in particular. As reported by Johnny Jet, renting a house gives travelers more space for the money, a kitchen that saves on meals, and room for group costume prep: "all the excuse travelers need to turn the holiday into a full-blown weekend getaway."

There is also a practical angle. For a Halloween weekend trip, an entire house near the action beats scattered hotel rooms when everyone wants to get ready together, compare costumes, and head out as a group. That social logic is exactly what short-term rentals sell best.

What to Know Before You Book

Demand this concentrated comes with a price tag. For a Halloween weekend in a hotspot like Salem, the most distinctive stays book out weeks in advance, and nightly rates on the best-located properties can run into the several hundreds. Booking early is the single biggest lever travelers have: the same listing that goes for a mid-range rate in September can jump sharply once October calendars fill up.

The counterpoint is the crowd. Salem's October crowds are legendary, and residents have long warned that the city's narrow streets and small businesses strain under peak-season foot traffic. Anyone heading there should expect packed sidewalks, long waits at popular restaurants, and sold-out parking. Arriving on a weekday, using public transit, and booking dinner reservations ahead of time will make the trip far more enjoyable than fighting the Saturday crush.

For readers chasing the wider trend, our travel coverage is tracking how Gen Z's appetite for themed trips is reshaping fall travel — including the lore-tripping boom sending young travelers to small towns with wild backstories. This Halloween weekend, the message from the data is simple: the spooky season is now a booking season.