Destination Travel Trends
Bookings made so far this season for arrival on Friday and Saturday nights are down from where they were in 2019/20, continuing a trend towards midweek that began at the outset of the pandemic. The percentage of all bookings arriving on Fridays is down -5.3 points, and Saturday is down -4.1, while arrivals for all other days are up, led by Monday, up 3.4 points.
Why It’s Happening
Initially, consumers were looking for ‘distance travel’, an opportunity to get away from the crowds, and both work from home and remote schooling made the shift easy. Now, with school back in and work from home less of an option, there are multiple factors at-play. Remote work is still a leading one, but lower midweek room rates are now a strong contributor; it’s no coincidence that Mondays, which allow guests to have more lower-priced travel days following arrival, are seeing the greatest gain, followed by Sundays for similar reasons.
Do We Care?
Yes! Spreading guests out can help make staffing easier, take the burden off the weekend for locals, and provide for a better guest experience. But it creates challenges, too. The real question is how do you get a long-term revenue win when consumers are shooting for lower midweek room rates, and at the same time staying -0.4 fewer nights per booking than they were prior to the pandemic?
Start selling more of everything your resort has to offer.
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