A strong performance for the Grand Strand’s hotels, condo-hotels, and campsites during the first half of 2019.

Author: L. Taylor Damonte, Ph.D., Director of the Clay Brittain Jr. Center for Resort Tourism; In cooperation with the Grant Center for Real Estate and Economic Development, E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration, Coastal Carolina University

In this latest update, we will look at lodging industry performance results during the first 27 rental weeks, roughly the first half, of each year since 2014. This allows us to include both the weekend leading up to the New Year’s Day holiday, and the weekend leading up to the July 4 holiday, in each of the most recent six years. In this way we are able to compare performance across a range of weeks that include the same holidays each year. This makes them, at least from a destination marketability standpoint, roughly equivalent.

So far in 2019, average occupancy for the Center’s voluntary sample of hotel, condo-hotel and campgrounds rented nightly is up by 1.7 occupancy points, or 3.2 percent, compared with the equivalent period of 2018. During the same time, the average daily rate increased by 1.3 percent, raising revenue per available room by 4.5 percent. Based on the scientific random samples that Center researchers observe of vacation rental properties advertised on the internet for weekly rental, the level of reservations in the VRP segment so far this year is down, but only by 0.1 occupancy point or 0.2 percent. However, advertised price per bedroom for VRPs declined by 10.3 percent compared with 2018, leaving estimated revenue per available bedroom down by 10.5 percent. 

Forecasters may want to note that the range of rental weeks reported on herein does not include the weeks during which local industry performance is typically at its very highest each year. The absolute peak usually comes during rental weeks 28-29. At the time of this writing those rental weeks had not yet passedin 2019. 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 each week, please contact Taylor Damonte (tdamonte@coastal.edu).