Summer Performance:
July included many of the same booking trends we saw earlier in the summer. Significant last-minute bookings combined well with our early occupancy-focused strategies to create solid booking, occupancy, and total revenue results. According to data from multiple third-party sources, properties managed by Brett/Robinson outperformed similar rentals in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach by more than 25% in May, June, and July, and August is currently on pace for the same. While the year hasn’t turned out as we hoped, our decisions and quick actions have allowed us to take advantage of unfavorable circumstances to create significantly better results for our owners compared to our competitors.
Industry and Market Trends:
Multiple articles have reported the vacation rental industry finished the summer around 9-10% down in revenue (from Beyond Pricing), and fall is showing uncertain demand. As we head into August, schools in our key feeder markets are going back a little earlier than in past years, with over 75% of our top 25 feeder markets starting by August 8th. This substantial shift impacts demand across the Alabama Gulf Coast. Historically, election years have proven to have slower fall and winter seasons, and we are beginning to see signs this year may hold consistent to that tendency.
Strategic Adjustments for Remainder of 2024:
The earlier school start dates mean overall demand for the earlier portion of August has been a little softer than in some past years, so we are adjusting our strategy to help counter that. While we always see our stay lengths decline in the fall and winter vs. summer or spring, we’re preparing to see more significant patterns emerge this year and are making early adjustments to take advantage of this potential demand. We are opening up shorter stays for fall and winter earlier on the calendar than we have in previous years in an attempt to claim a bigger share of the market. We believe that making these adjustments now is the best way to continue outperforming the market for the remainder of 2024.