by L. Taylor Damonte, Ph.D., director of the Clay Brittain Jr. Center for Resort Tourism; Robert Salvino, director of the Grant Center for Real Estate and Economic Development, E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration, Coastal Carolina University

Once again, the early fall tourist season along South Carolina’s Grand Strand, the coastal sections of Horry and Georgetown counties, was marred by at least one hurricane warning and evacuation. The average occupancy percentages (APO), as reported by Coastal Carolina University’s Clay Brittain Jr. Center for Resort Tourism, for hotels, condo-hotels, and campsites (HC-HCs) units rented nightly, and the estimated APO based on the percentage of units reserved for the vacation rental properties (VRPs) rented weekly, are shown in the table below. The weeks are color-coded based on the tropical storms that made landfall somewhere in the eastern United States. During the years 2013 and 2014, no named stormed passed near the Carolinas, but during 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, the area experienced major disruptions stemming from Hurricanes Joaquin, Matthew, Irma, Florence and Dorian respectively. The table below reflects the relative percentage of HC-HC units occupied, and the relative percentage of VRP units reserved, during the six weeks beginning with the Sunday before Labor Day for two combined segments of the lodging industry in the coastal sections of Horry and Georgetown counties. 

The average occupancy reported below for the nightly-rented HC-HC segment is based on the centers’ voluntary samples of properties (monthly sample size is shown in the CVB Insider at myrtlebeachareacvb.com/results). Center researchers also observe a scientifically random sample of reservations websites for weekly-rented VRPs located between Little River and Georgetown, South Carolina, and listed on the internet each week. During 2015, 2016 and 2017 storm and/or flooding threats occurred during weekend periods, which are particularly important to the performance of the nightly-rented HC-HCs. During 2018, the mandatory evacuation order for evacuation zones A, B and C along the coast began on Tuesday, Sept. 11, and was not lifted until Sunday, Sept. 16. During 2019, a mandatory evacuation order was placed on zone A of both Horry and Georgetown counties, from Monday, Sept. 2, to Friday, Sept. 6. Readers will want to note that the reservations percentages shown in the table below for VRPs reflect the weekly percentage assuming zero units were occupied during the days in which there was an evacuation order in place. It also assumes that normal occupancy based on reservations was occurring prior to and after the evacuation based on the level of reservations reflected on the internet. In some cases, that may be a valid assumption; in others, not. 

Readers may note that during the weeks following the landfall of Hurricane Dorian during 2019, VRP APO far out-stripped the levels of 2018, yet the week-on-week comparisons of 2019 with fall weeks going back as far as 2014 show that VRP APO during 2019 fell short of previous years. The week-on-week comparisons of 2019 APO for HC-HCs are mixed, in that some 2019 weeks seem to outperform the level of previous years, and some do not. 

The center’s monthly results can be found in the CVB Insider at myrtlebeachareacvb.com/results. It’s most recent weekly CCU Lodging Update is always available, and the most recent two years of weekly reports are archived at coastal.edu/business/resort. If you represent a hotel or condo-hotel management company and would like to become a participant in the Brittain Center’s or the Grant Center’s research and receive segment-level results and six-week occupancy forecasts, please contact Taylor Damonte, tdamonte@coastal.edu, at Coastal Carolina University.