Increasingly, travelers are looking to escape to less crowded destinations. Therefore, the 2020 Quickie Index only included cities with populations under 1 million and gave higher priority to those with smaller populations.

To create the second annual

“America’s Best Cities for a Quickie”

Index, Hotwire analyzed more than

10,000 internal and external data

points across 300 cities based on

value, driveability, leisure,

and population scores.

Known for their mystery Hot Rate

deals, Hotwire wants to make it easy

and affordable for anyone to take an

unexpected trip, which is why the

experts in last-minute travel ranked

the country’s best cities to make it a

quickie ... getaway, that is!

Hotwire enables more trips with their mystery Hot Rate deals which save you up to half off listed rates, or even more when booked last minute! The Quickie Index lists cities where you’ll get even more bang for your buck, based on the following factors:

For a true quickie getaway, minimizing the time needed to actually get to your destination is paramount to maximizing the fun! With more travelers looking to stay local, the Quickie Index factored in:

Having a quickie is all about having a little fun. The Quickie Index ranks destinations offering a wide variety of entertainment options that cater to all traveler types to ensure a great time, such as:

High hotel demand (based on total number of Hot Rate room nights booked on Hotwire in 2019)

Biggest last-minute savings (based on difference in average hotel daily rate of Hotwire Hot Rates in 2019 booked 8 days or more from arrival vs. within 7 days)

Lowest average hotel daily rate (based on overall average daily rate of Hotwire Hot Rates in 2019)

POPULATION

THINGS TO DO (LEISURE )

EASE OF ARRIVAL(DRIVEABILITY)

Most number of bars and restaurants (based on Yelp)

Most things to do (sites and attractions based on Tripadvisor)

Least number of rainy days per year

BEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK (VALUE)

METHODOLOGY

Shortest drive time (based on number of top 50 U.S. metro areas within 250 miles)

$

M T W TH F S SN

COMPOSITESCORE*POPULATIONLEISUREDRIVEABILITYVALUECITYRANK

St. Louis, MOTampa, FLAtlanta, GAArlington, VATucson, AZTulsa, OKVirginia Beach, VAPittsburgh, PAMiami, FLCincinnati, OH

111110

9101010111011

123456789

10

1515121515151512

93

101013

79778

128

308,626385,430486,290236,842535,677401,800450,435302,407463,347301,301

210.58207.5

200.68129.93127.66125.29123.75116.23109.16107.52

Las Vegas, NVSan Francisco, CAWashington, DCOklahoma City, OKSeattle, WAMemphis, TNIndianapolis, INAustin, TXDenver, COPortland, OR

119

10121012121110

9

915151215

99

126

12

151413

711

68

121311

641,676884,363693,972643,648724,745652,236863,002950,715704,621647,805

281.03262.71244.86217.77203.52194.04189.84114.87106.31

96.85

123456789

10

COMPOSITESCORE*POPULATIONLEISUREDRIVEABILITYVALUECITYRANK

COMPOSITESCORE*POPULATIONLEISUREDRIVEABILITYVALUECITYRANK

Orlando, FLScottsdale, AZFort Lauderdale, FLReno, NVSalt Lake City, UTSpringfield, MOMadison, WIShreveport, LATallahassee, FLToledo, OH

123456789

10

109

111110

911

899

1215

612151512151515

1110

87776655

203.37189.33

184.7163.27162.45147.66145.33126.01123.99114.31

280,257216,226162,103248,853200,544167,376255,214192,036191,049278,733

COMPOSITESCORE*POPULATIONLEISUREDRIVEABILITYVALUECITYRANK

123456789

10

1297

111010

8988

3121515151515151515

91210

4888665

134,87586,16086,783

102,24556,994

146,444114,761

18,95771,10638,492

182.79175.02151.35137.79137.63128.39103.36

98.1288.2

87.05

Charleston, SCNewport Beach, CASanta Barbara, CASouth Bend, INSarasota, FLSavannah, GATemecula, CATroy, ALWilmington, DEAtlantic City, NJ

MA

JOR

ME

TRO

PO

LIS

ES

600,

000-

999,

999*

*

ITTY

BIT

TYC

ITIE

S<1

50,0

00

SM

ALL

TO

WN

FA

VOR

ITE

S15

0,00

0-29

9,99

9

MID

-SIZ

ED

MU

ST-

SE

ES

300,

000-

599,

999

Each destination received a maximum of 45 total points across 7 subcategories and were further ranked based on population.

Leveraging the different scores across all categories, Hotwire created a weighted composite index to determine which cities had the highest ranking across all variables.

Each category score was weighted by the following:

VALUE - 30%DRIVEABILITY - 30%LEISURE - 30%POPULATION - 10%

SCORING

*Total score = weighted composite number x 10000 **Population based on U.S. Census Bureau data