Labor Day ends the summer travel season, right?

Summary

Marketplace Morning Report — September 1, 2025

Episode Title: Labor Day ends the summer travel season, right?
Host: Nova Safo (in for David Brancaccio)

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Episode Overview

This episode of Marketplace Morning Report discusses unexpected trends in the 2025 summer travel season and explores the impact of new technology on criminal record expungement. Nova Safo hosts, speaking first with Deloitte’s Eileen Crowley about surprising shifts in American travel patterns, especially around Labor Day. The episode then features an interview with Roger Roman, co-founder of Legalese, a startup leveraging AI to facilitate legal expungements. Along the way, the show highlights economic implications, changing consumer behaviors, and emerging tech solutions.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Summer Travel Season: More but Shorter Trips

• Guest: Eileen Crowley, Deloitte transportation and hospitality analyst
• Timestamps: 01:01–04:12
• Americans are taking more trips this summer than expected, but most are shorter in duration.
• There’s a strong focus on leisure travel, indicating that despite budget constraints, people prioritize vacations.
  • Quote: “The trips might be a little bit quicker and shorter, but again, that prioritization of leisure travel is continuing for Americans.” — Eileen Crowley (01:31)

Notable Travel Trends

• Travelers are increasingly budget-conscious—more “frugal” than in past summers.
  • Quote: “I like to refer to our travelers this summer as more the budget conscious traveler, a little bit more frugal than perhaps in summers past.” — Eileen Crowley (02:01)
• Decrease in international trips; more focus on affordable destinations and spending less at their chosen locations.
• Many Americans are opting to travel after Labor Day, seeking savings during the “shoulder season” (the less-busy period after summer).
  • Statistic: The percentage of Americans planning their main summer trip post-Labor Day has nearly doubled from 12% in 2022 to 23% in 2025. (02:59)

Industry Response

• Airlines report a “thinning out” of demand; summer’s rush is more evenly distributed into fall.
  • Vacation season is stretching out as budgets tighten.
• Travelers may choose less expensive lodging, such as staying with friends or family.
  • Quote: “Depending upon how the economy continues to fare, you know, you could see some folks, some of our American travelers staying with family and friends... Again, it all surrounds the theme of a more frugal traveler.” — Eileen Crowley (03:34)

2. Labor Day & Markets

• Timestamps: 04:14
• US markets are closed for Labor Day, a quick update for listeners on the state of financial trading during the holiday.

3. AI Meets Expungement: Legalese Startup

• Guest: Roger Roman, co-founder of Legalese
• Timestamps: 05:00–08:22

Background: The Expungement Challenge

• Millions of Americans face barriers due to criminal records (even dismissed charges).
• Access to expungement is patchwork across states—sometimes automatic, often complicated and costly.

Legalese: Tech Solution

• Legalese uses AI to help users determine expungement eligibility and process applications.
  • Quote: “...our first model to help people basically go ahead and figure out if they were eligible one for an expungement and then help them in terms of processing it.” — Roger Roman (05:30)
• Started with an assumption about their typical customer but learned need cuts across race and class.
  • Quote: “We had our preconceived notions about who this could help. But over time, we found that this problem transcends all economic levels. It transcends race. It transcends everything.” — Roger Roman (05:52)

Why Mississippi?

• Chosen as their pilot market due to challenging legal infrastructure and high rates of incarceration and criminal records.
• If it works in Mississippi, easier expansion to other states.
• Co-founder Lawrence Blackman is a practicing attorney and state representative there, providing insight and connections.

The Power and Responsibility of AI

• Roman compares AI empowering Legalese to the transformative arrival of calculators in the classroom.
• He acknowledges concerns about AI but expresses optimism:
  • Quote: “Today it just feels like a superpower... I think used in the right space and used responsibly it can really help a lot of people and even the playing fields in a lot of spaces.” — Roger Roman (07:33)

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Memorable Quotes

• “That prioritization of leisure travel is continuing for Americans.”
  — Eileen Crowley (01:31)
• “Our travelers this summer... more the budget conscious traveler, a little bit more frugal than perhaps in summers past.”
  — Eileen Crowley (02:01)
• “In 2025, that percentage [planning their main trip after Labor Day] is closer to 23%. So it's almost doubled in the last three years of our survey.”
  — Eileen Crowley (02:59)
• “We found that this problem transcends all economic levels. It transcends race. It transcends everything.”
  — Roger Roman (05:52)
• “Today it just feels like a superpower... I think used in the right space and used responsibly it can really help a lot of people and even the playing fields in a lot of spaces.”
  — Roger Roman (07:33)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:01] — Introduction to summer travel trends (Nova Safo & Eileen Crowley)
• [02:59] — Stat: Post-Labor Day travel plans nearly double since 2022
• [03:34] — Economic pressures shape fall travel, lodging shifts
• [05:00] — Barriers to expungement and Legalese’s AI solution (Roger Roman)
• [05:52] — The universality of the expungement need
• [07:33] — Roger Roman on AI’s potential and responsibility

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Episode Tone

• Informed, conversational, and accessible, with the guest analysts providing data-backed insight and candid anecdotes. The host bridges segments smoothly, elevating practical implications for listeners.

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Listeners will come away with:

• A fresh understanding of how, in 2025, summer travel patterns are changing to reflect economic realities, including the extension of 'peak' season into fall.
• An introduction to how AI is pushing the boundaries of legal tech and addressing deeply-rooted systemic barriers in the American criminal justice system.

Transcript

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[Nova Safo]

Labor Day weekend ends the summer travel season. Right? For Marketplace, I'm Nova Safa. And for David Brancaccio, let's talk summer travel. It's supposed to be peak tourism and was forecast to be slow this year. But on both points, there's surprising news. Joining me is Eileen Crowley. She tracks the transportation and hospitality industry at the audit and advisory firm Deloitte. Good morning.

[Eileen Crowley]

Glad to be here.

[Nova Safo]

Has the summer travel season turned out as we expected?

[Eileen Crowley]

One of the biggest trends that we're seeing is that folks are actually taking more trips this summer and expected to. So, you know, the trips might be a little bit quicker and shorter, but again, that prioritization of leisure travel is continuing for Americans is what we're seeing.

[Nova Safo]

So some signs of good news. But we are seeing some tweaks perhaps to summer travel plans for Americans. What have those tweaks been besides the shorter, maybe quicker trips?

[Eileen Crowley]

You are definitely correct. I like to refer to our travelers this summer as more the budget conscious traveler, a little bit more frugal than perhaps in summers past. But they're doing less international trips. They're also thinking about spending less once they get to a destination. A number of our travelers that we surveyed actually are intending to travel after Labor Day, which typically has been the end of the summer defined travel season. And many are doing that because of the shoulder season being perhaps a little bit less expensive and keeping in line with their budgets.

[Nova Safo]

Yeah, and airlines alluded to this in their forecasts for the rest of the year. Right. They're saying that they're seeing kind of the usually kind of heavy summer demand period kind of get instead kind of spread out and thinned out a bit and going kind of spilling into the fall.

[Eileen Crowley]

We took a look back to our survey results from 2022 about travel post Labor Day. And there was about 12% of Americans that indicated they intended to take their marquee or biggest trip of the summer season after Labor Day. If you look at the results of our survey this year, in 2025, that percentage is closer to 23%. So it's almost doubled in the last three years of our survey.

[Nova Safo]

Considering kind of the shifting travel patterns and the expanding period of travel, what do you expect for the fall? Where are we headed?

[Eileen Crowley]

I think you'll see, like I mentioned, more travelers post Labor Day. They are intending to stretch that summer season out in many regards to get maybe perhaps a better pricing, which is whether it's hotels or airfares. And depending upon how the economy continues to fare, you know, you could see some folks, some of our American travelers staying with family and friends actually, versus paid lodging. Again, it all surrounds the theme of a more frugal traveler, especially if they're feeling less financially secure.

[Nova Safo]

All right, Deloitte's Eileen Crowley, thank you very much.

[Eileen Crowley]

Thank you so much.

[Nova Safo]

And US Markets, by the way, are on holiday closed for Labor Day.

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Department of rejected dreams. If you had a dream, rejected IKEA can make it possible.

[Customer]

So I always dreamed of having a man cave, but the wife doesn't like it. What if I called it a woman cave?

[IKEA Spokesperson]

Okay, so let's not do that. But add some relaxing lighting and a comfy IKEA hofburg ottoman and now it's a cozy retreat.

[Customer]

Nice. A cozy retreat, man. Cozy retreat, sir.

[IKEA Spokesperson]

Okay. Find your big dreams, small dreams and cozy retreat dreams in store or online at ikea.us dream the possibilities.

[Nova Safo]

Millions of Americans have some form of criminal record, an arrest charge or conviction. That record can go on to limit access to housing, employment and education, even if an offense is dismissed. While some states offer automatic record expungement for qualified individuals, others require a court petition, which can be both expensive and confusing. A new tech startup is looking to make record expungement less complicated with the assistance of artificial intelligence.

[Roger Roman]

My name is Roger Roman and I am the co founder of Legalese. So my co founder, Lawrence Blackman, he's a practicing attorney. You know, he would come with ideas about things that could be fixed basically in the legal System and expungement was one that he kept coming back to like a true attorney. He was very persistent and convincing, and I started to help him build an mvp, which was our first model to help people basically go ahead and figure out if they were eligible one for an expungement and then help them in terms of processing it. We built that MVP a couple of years ago, and we realized that there was something there. There was a huge gap in the market in this space early on. You know, we thought our ideal customer profile was of a certain demographic. You know, we had our preconceived notions about who this could help. But over time, we found that this problem transcends all economic levels. It transcends race. It transcends everything. We've had investors say, hey, you know, I needed an expungement similar to Lawrence, right. He's a state representative and attorney. He needed to get an expungement. We started in Mississippi one because Mississippi was perceived as a challenge to us early on in terms of their judicial system. There's still a lot of reliance on paper. In addition to that, my co founder, Lawrence, is a practicing attorney there. He's barred. He's also a state representative. Right. So we had a lot of insight into how things move with the courts. The incarceration rate, and the people with criminal records in Mississippi is one of the highest in the country. Unfortunately, it was fertile ground to test out our model and to build. And to be completely honest, we felt that if we could make this work in Mississippi, it would be a lot easier to make it work in other states that might have a little more advanced judicial system and might be a little more adept to using technology to solve these issues. I might be a little biased, but, you know, I'm a big fan of AI. Maybe in 20 years, when we're all slaves to some AI overlord, right? I might regret saying this, but today it just feels like a superpower. A lot of times I joke with my co founders about it being similar to a calculator. Right. In school, we were told not to use a calculator because we had to learn how to do math ourselves. And, you know, we wouldn't always have access to a calculator. And here we are today with cell phones with calculators on them, and we pretty much have access to a calculator in every predicament. So I know there's a lot of fear around AI and the potential power it has, but I think used in the right space and used, you know, responsibly it can really help a lot of people and even the playing fields in a lot of spaces.

[Nova Safo]

That's Roger Roman of Legalese, and I'm Nova Safo with the Marketplace Morning Report from apm, American Public Media.

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