Effect of maximizing vacation planning on vacation experience, evaluation, and wellbeing.

We recently published the remarkable findings that German vacationers who planned their vacations further ahead of time, and spent more time planning, actually enjoyed their vacations less and reported lower wellbeing afterward. Furthermore, we found that this unfavorable planning behavior is driven by the personality of some people, known as “maximizers,” to “maximize” all kinds of choices in their lives. They are clearly the least satisfied with their vacations and with life as a whole, as their in-depth planning causes them to have very exact and overinflated expectations. They probably make their most satisfying choices when they have only a few options to choose from. These findings are based on a large-sample questionnaire, as well as a smaller number of in-depth interviews, as explained in our article “The Best Experiences Cannot Be Planned.”