Hotel and Luxury Vacation Rental Owners Hope for a Warmer Spring
Apr. 15, 2006. The cold temperatures---producing record lows in some cases—have taken their toll on the travel and vacation industry during this winter and early spring. While data is not available on vacation rentals, we always watch closely the weekly reports of the hotel industry published by Smith Travel Research. The fortunes of the vacation rental industry tend to track the data for the hotel industry.
The weekly report of the week ending April 7 showed the first big decline in some time for both occupancy rates (an 11% decline) and in revenue per available room (an 11.2% drop). Thus, it appears that hotel owners have dropped their rates, but it was not enough to overcome the unseasonably bad weather at the beginning of the spring season.
Of course this was not the case if the hotels and vacation rentals were located in balmy spots such as the Caribbean or the Southern tip of Florida. However, for the Mid West and for all of the East Coast—even in Northern and Central Florida—temperatures plummeted to a level that would not be considered comfortable for most vacationers.
While you cannot avoid such weather misfortunes, a strong marketing campaign and advanced bookings will mean that you will not suffer too much from such weather set backs. For more information on how to properly market your vacation rental so as to minimize weather disruptions, see the newsletters available to members of VacationRental.org.
