Shhhhhh….. Shall We Tell Them?

Shhhh.....shall we tell them?

Apparently hotel occupancy levels in the Orlando area fell 26 percent during the final week of March compared to the same week in 2008 — the biggest drop among the nation’s top 25 markets.

Smith Travel Research, which tracks hotel performance nationwide, also reported that Orlando’s revenue per available room, the key measure of hotels’ financial health, fell 35.4 percent to $68.15.

Hotel occupancy and revenue fell throughout March as both business and personal travel slows amid the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

The first four months of the year are usually the busiest for Central Florida hotels, so a downturn during the period has a big impact on their annual performance. Orange County reported April 2 that resort tax collections in February fell 29 percent.

So…shall we tell them that people aren’t staying in hotels anymore because they’ve found a better choice?

Here at Florida Leisure Vacation Homes we’ve just had our best ever start to a year and that comes on the back of our best ever year. Now how come we’ve managed to do that while the hotel industry carries on crying in their milk?

I’ll tell you how…plain old fashioned value for money. Hotel rates have gone down and down and with it so has the service level. Anyone walking into an Orlando hotel at the moment knows they’re struggling and that it’s probably going to relate to a poorer experience for them so they are looking at alternative choices.

Vacation homes are that choice. Instead of a small 300 sq ft room for all the family to feel like sardines in, we give them a massive 1500 square feet upwards. Not only that, but when the kids are fighting over which TV channel to watch, we solve that problem as well by having seperate bedrooms and numerous TV’s in the home. If we then look at the fully equipped kitchen where families can cook their own food and save money, not to mention a full laundry that means you don’t have to trek as many clothes around then it’s really easy to see why more and more people are choosing vacation homes over hotel rooms.

Oh…and did I forget to mention the swimming pool…yes, I did…and I didn’t mean the pool you get to share with everyone else with all their germs and noise, I meant the private heated swimming pool you can enjoy just a few paces away from your front room…not the one down endless corridors!

Am I overdoing this? Am I taking delight in the hotels demise?

Absolutely not. A strong hotel business is good news for all of Orlando and the sooner these people start delivering experiences that guests want, then the sooner they will recover their financial health. I mean, why would you pay $200 to $300 + for a 300 square foot hotel room when you can get a 3 bedroom fully equipped home for less…oh…..I forgot the games room…. shhhhhh. Let’s keep that as our secret. 😉

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