Summer of Discontent at Pricey, Packed Hotels Creates an Opportunity for Vacation Rentals
In an article tilted “The Summer of Discontent: Hotels Are Packed and Pricier� Avery Johnson reports for the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) that renovations and rising demand are pushing up resort rates by 15%.
The article quotes a new study to be released today by PricewaterhouseCoopers that predicts that room rates at high-end resorts will rise as much as 15% this summer -- and that they will be more packed than usual with vacationers. According to Pricewaterhouse, the U.S. industry will hit a record number of 3.277 million occupied rooms a night during the season.
The heftier price tags don’t seem to be hurting occupancy, as the summer average occupancy (Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend) at U.S. hotels is expected to be the highest since 2000. Occupancy rates are projected to be up 2% this summer to a level of 71.5%.
The article points out that there are still bargains to found in certain destinations such as Hawaii and San Francisco. We would suggest that vacationers check bargains in vacation rentals listed in VacationRental.org for such locations as the Florida Gulf Coast, the Puget Sound area of Washington, and in Hawaii. With resort hotels pricing themselves out of the market for the more budget conscious traveler, vacation rental owners have a great opportunity to demonstrate what a bargain they deliver.
