Summer 2009 rental wrapup

[Kurt]

Tourism may be down but officials are happy | officials, tourism, economic - News - Northwest Florida Daily News

Everyone needs a vacation every once in a while, even during the largest economic downturn in decades.

With the media reporting economic doom and gloom in the spring, local tourism officials were expecting the worst when looking ahead to summer. While bed tax dollars collected in Okaloosa, Walton and Santa Rosa counties are down compared to this time last year, tourism officials are satisfied.

?With where the economy is, of course there have been changes,? said Darrel Jones, executive director of the Okaloosa County Tourist Development Council. ?People are booking a lot later, spending a little less time and they?re certainly spending less money.

?But we?re real happy with what we?ve got so far, even though we?re down for the year,? he added.

A bed tax, or tourism development tax, is levied on short-term lodgings in the three counties.

From April through July, bed tax revenue in Okaloosa was down 5.18 percent from the same period last year. Walton?s numbers were down 8.3 percent and Santa Rosa?s revenue was down 4.8 percent.

Still, Northwest Florida has fared better than some of the larger tourist destinations in the state.

For April through June, bed tax revenue in Orlando?s Orange County was 17 percent less than the same period in 2008. Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, saw a 23 percent drop from a year ago.

However, not all major tourist destinations took that large of a hit. Bed tax dollars were up 0.5 percent in Miami-Dade County for April, May and June.

Bed tax numbers for July were not available for Orange, Broward or Miami-Dade.

?Considering what?s going on with the rest of the state, we?re really happy,? Jones said.



Changing tides

The downturn in the economy has changed people?s vacationing habits, which has forced hotel and condominium managers to make adjustments.

In past years, the local lodging industry never would have considered offering discounts in July, the busiest month of the year. However, people are spending less money and more time looking for the best deal.

Instead of calling a rental business two or three times before they booked a stay, which was normal in the past, prospective tourists would call different locations four to five times to negotiate a better rate, said Vickie Warner, marketing director for ResortQuest, which rents 3,000 units from Pensacola Beach east to Panama City Beach.

?They wanted to make sure they got the best deal,? Warner said.

Occupancy at ResortQuest properties actually was up about 5 percent this summer compared to last year. However, revenue for the company was flat because of the discounts offered, Warner said.

?The summer season was slow to pick up and take off, but it did do well,? Warner said. ?We did very well in July.?

Warner said she expects tourists trying to negotiate a better price, even during the peak summer season, will be a trend that will continue.



Relying on discounts

Sonny Mares, executive director of the Beaches of South Walton, Walton County?s Tourist Development Council, said he believes the reduction in the bed tax revenue this summer was because of discounts offered and not by fewer visitors.

?We know that our properties have had to offer 15, 20, 25 percent discounts because that?s just the way the economy is going and people expect it,? Mares said. ?So they?re doing what they need to get business. For us to be down such a small percentage in revenue tells me that we?ve really got good business. The people are here, it?s just that each person is not generating the revenue they did in the past.

?I personally believe we probably have more people on the beach this year and we?ve got a lot of new faces on the beach this year,? Mares added. ?That?s really good news. That?s great.?

Mares said TDC representatives saw a lot more license plates this year from states that do not normally visit the region, such as Ohio, Illinois and Nebraska.

Faced with the recession, local TDCs not only aimed more advertising to nearby markets, but made changes to their message to stress the values of each area.

?The hope was to stay even and we certainly did that, so we?re pleased,? said Kate Wilkes, executive director of the Santa Rosa County Tourist Development Council.



Different approaches

Businesses have been struggling both locally and nationally, but many that cater to tourists have continued to be successful.

Bob Cordier, general manager of Big Kahuna?s in Destin, noticed early on that the number of tourists coming to the water park was fewer than in the past.

To make up for the shortfall, Big Kahuna?s focused its marketing and offered larger discounts to attract locals and military members.

Cordier said the number of visitors to Big Kahuna?s was about the same as last year. However, tourists and locals were close to 50-50, as opposed to 60 percent tourists previously.

?It?s been pretty good. We?re satisfied,? Cordier said. ?We knew it would be a tough year. Tourism, of course, was down in town, so we turned our marketing around more towards locals than we normally have and the locals enjoyed it. They came out in pretty good numbers. We balanced it out. It was a successful year.?

Sailor?s Grill is one of only two restaurants on Navarre Beach, and owner Ken Rudzki said he was worried about the effect the recession would have on his business.

Nevertheless, he and his staff focused on providing the service his customers expected and hoped they would respond. At the end of the season, Rudzki said sales were up considerably from last year.

?For the entire establishment, thank goodness, there was no sign of a recession on Navarre Beach this summer,? said Rudzki. ?It might be a different mix of people, people from closer driving distance, but all in all we had an excellent summer.?

 

[NewUrbanGirl]

I was wondering how others in the area were doing, as we have had our best year ever in 2009. I have 239 paid-for nights booked (so far) at our place, which is just ahead of our prior best of 2006. I would've had more, but we wanted to use the place ourselves sometimes.

Here's my $.02 on why it was a good year. There are a lot of people that are driving to the most beautiful beaches in the world, instead of flying somewhere else. It helps that we are a reasonable drive from some of the largest metro areas in the south (Atlanta, Birmingham, Houston, Dallas, Mobile, Nashville, New Orleans).

Given the scary reporting by the media for the last two years, I focused even more on customer service this year (calling people back quickly, working with their schedules, delivering what is promised). While many people did ask, I found that I did not have to discount to get reservations. If you deliver a quality product or service, the value is there, and I feel we are reasonably priced for what we deliver. I trust that my guests feel the same, as our repeat visits are strong.

Marketing continues to be an important component of the plan. I advertise on SoWal.com (and its satellite sites), VRBO and vacationrentals.com. No cut backs here.

Now, I know I'm just one house in a big area, and one small industry in a very large economic engine that is the US of A, but I believe there are hundreds of thousands, dare I say millions, of us little entrepreneurs out there, slugging away, not participating in the recession. To those of you in the same situation, keep going strong!

Enjoy your Saturday! Go to the Beach!

 

[Kurt]

Thanks for the support - I know most people have had lots of discount requests and many are granting them and offering specials also. You are a good example of an owner who knows that it takes a little extra marketing and effort to get your place booked. I'm glad you have had a good Summer.