Mountain town lodges are riding a roller coast this summer.
For the first time in six months bookings were up slightly in June, according to analytics firm Destimetrics. That breaks the longest downward trend since the pandemic.
But July did not rebound as expected. Compared to last year July has lost more bookings than any month this summer.
Now, there is a new and confounding trend – disappearing room nights.
Destimetrics estimates 47,000 nights are not available for booking this summer. This includes short-term rentals and traditional lodges, and it skews a straightforward comparison with last year.
“While it was very encouraging to see the end of the six-month decline streak in booking pace, that positive news is really window dressing because when we simply count the number of room nights booked – called pure demand – pace was down,” Destimetrics guru Tom Foley said in a statement. “And even though inventory shifts happen regularly in rental unit management, this month’s decline is so steep that contradictions in the data needed to be clarified.”
What happened to all those potential visitors? Foley and his team have three theories:
- – Pulling the unit for personal owner use
- – Dropping the unit from a rental program
- – Selling a unit
These might explain the loss of a few thousand room nights. But inventory rarely shrinks so rapidly. Foley is still flummoxed by the sudden in just one year, saying this news is a “mixed bag” for resort towns in Summit County and beyond.
But there is a silver lining. Luxury properties, renting at more than $400 per night, are seeing more bookings at a higher price, translating to bigger revenues.
“Although most nights in the crucial month of July are weak compared to last year and summer demand is sinking, lodging suppliers appear to have found a sweet spot by getting higher value guests even though they are seeing fewer of them.”