Just in time for the ski season, vacation rentals have surpassed hotel in search popularity.
Hitwise numbers shows for the past 6 months, vacation rentals have consistently remained behind hotel searches. In mid-October vacation rentals passed the hotel demand.
This seems to be an obvious connection with ski season starting. For families on a ski vacation, vacation rentals seem to be a no-brainer. However, even in past years, ski season or not, vacation rentals were not as popular with consumers.
A recent USA Today article expressed what many vacationers are finding:
- “In resort areas such as the Florida Panhandle, some hotels are being torn down and replaced with condo rental units”.
- “Travelers are benefiting from more choices and better websites….”
- “Condos and houses have more space, including fully equipped kitchens. Condos and houses also have more amenities, such as stereo equipment, barbecue grills and laundry facilities.”
The complete article on vacation rentals can be found here.
Family vacationers want more than hotels can provide and the Hitwise numbers indicate that the word is getting out to consumers on the value of vacation rentals.
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November 30th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Of course there’s the end of season rush to use your vacation time before you lose it too!
Definitely no surprise as far as the connection with ski season rolling out. while some of the more established ski resorts and mountain resort towns have some very well known hotel chains entrenched at their bases, like Marriott Grand, Hyatt Regency, Wyndham, Ritz Carlton,St. Regis, etc, those are also coming at an incredibly steep nightly rate, for prime mountain locations and luxury lodging.
And of course, with the most expensive ski destinations like Aspen, Vail, Park City, Sun Valley, Whistler, Steamboat that really limits the average family looking for affordable ski vacation lodging. ResortQuest has a good mix of luxury vacation rentals and reasonably priced vacation condo rentals in many of these places, so there’s something for any budget.
But for ski vacations on a budget, the advantage families now have is that the rampant development at major ski areas, in which timeshares or vacation ownership has boomed, and owners who only use them two weeks a year, means more rental units go into a vacation rental pool.
More demand = more inventory being built every year. And the shift is definitely not in the standard hotel direction. Condotels, if anything, are indeed becoming more popular with ski resort developers.
Of course, as a skier/snowboarder, I tend to find resorts that have less development and smaller crowds. Resorts like Big Sky, Montana and Solitude Ski Resort in Utah fit the bill, and luckily they have just enough vacation homes and condos for rent.
April 13th, 2008 at 1:52 am
Aloha,
I can agree with you. Staying in a vacation rental here in Hawaii is muc much better than staying in a Hotel. I actually live in Hawaii now. If you are going to try to come to Hawaii and stay in a vacation rental on the Island of Oahu, you should try to get a aplace in either Kailua town or the Lanikai area. Very nice. Good luck and hope you have a great vacation.