Todays list of emails included PAII’s Spring Business Survey. While on the surface the results seem generally OK with more than 50% of respondents showing increases over last year, it’s tough to get a real handle on the business with only 61 properties responding and with no indication of performances by region.
At The B&B Team we pay attention to these trends too. For those of you reading this Blog, it would be appreciated if you could comment as to how these results compare to your results and then indicate your geographic area…New England, Mid Atlantic, and so on. We will be happy to share the results when there is enough critical mass of information to draw some reasonable conclusions.
From what we hear, business in general is mixed with some Innkeepers reporting positive record results and still others experiencing a so-so start to the season. No doubt that the business is coming in on a very last minute basis with the weather as a seemingly major influencer on travel plans.
Predictably, if that’s possible with our industry, the summer and fall visitors who travel from away (wherever "away" is) are making their travel plans, but even they too are seemingly waiting until the last minute.
Wherever you are and wherever your guests are coming from, aggressive and creative marketing will help you garner your share of business…but that’s for another time! So, if you can, please take a couple of minutes and let us hear from you. Thanks!
Useful post..keep them coming.
Last week I was visiting clients in the Shenandoah Valley who shared with me that it’s been a difficult year for them. The word they hear is that other innkeepers and business owners who depend on travel and tourism have had a rough time (and I know of at least a couple of other inns in the Valley with a similar experience). Is it gas prices? Really? I can see that with a budget traveler, but higher end inns who are doing all the right things shouldn’t feel anything from gas prices. But, occupancies don’t lie. Of course, this comes when the larger lodging industry is crowing about how great things are with rates and occupancies up. What’s your experience? We’d love to know and share it here.
Peter