GuardTrails
What it means
It is the most decisive parameter of a long trip, and nobody asks it. Not operators, not planning tools.
It does not measure an aesthetic preference but a real cost: every change of base consumes a morning, an evening, and a share of the attention that will not go to the place.
And it changes in nature with the accommodation mode. In a camper you do not unpack: the cost is no longer settling in but booking. Hut to hut, rotation is compulsory — the question does not arise.
How to find yours: How many hotels for a road trip.
How it is measured
Two quantities, and they say different things: nights per lodging, which the quotation shows, and nights per zone, which the traveller lives. The gap can be wide when inventory constrains — see stage or lodging.
Fragmentation is also judged against the geometry: a loop across a large territory imposes a minimum number of bases. Blaming Iceland for its fragmentation is blaming the ring for its circumference.
An example
Itineraries sold by different operators, on four continents, nine years apart. None of the operators knows the others.
A different bed every day and a half, in every case: between 1.55 and 1.82 nights per lodging.
This is not individual carelessness: every stage is a billable line, and an itinerary that ticks twice as many places looks twice as generous.
What it does not say
The right number depends on the trip and the person. The measurement says it is never asked, not that it is two nights everywhere.