Resort saw decline from ‘22 in stays for several reasons

Continued from Page 3 with the revenue per available room, or REVPAR, at $156.54. This shows a 3.1 percent decrease and a 5.6 percent decrease from the previous year, respectively.

Compared to resort towns such as Virginia Beach and the Jersey Shore, Ocean City has a greater percentage decrease in ADR and REVPAR from June 2022. According to Smith Travel Research, The Jersey Shore had only a 0.4 percent decrease in ADR, with Virginia Beach listing a two percent increase. In terms of REVPAR, the Jersey Shore only showed a 0.6 percent decrease, with Virginia Beach listing a 0.4 percent increase.

“Tourism peaked when everyone had money left over from the pandemic,” said Susan Jones, the executive director for the Hotel, Motel and Restaurant Association. “We were 80 percent full in June of 2021. So tourists came down and spent all of the money that the government had handed to them that year.”

This effect, in turn, created a “blip” in what businesses sought after, Jones said.

“With how much the increase in costs have been over the last couple of years, supply chain costs have gone up dramatically. The cost of labor has gone up dramatically. This is because our state government has increased the minimum wage, along with employment taxes. With all of these increased costs, business have to therefore offset that by increasing their prices.”

She further stated that the reason the number of bookings has been lower during the start of the summer season was bad weather.

“We had a lot of rain in the begin- ning of June, and the weather has not been cooperative. We’ve had some really rainy weekends. People who want to book their vacation to Ocean City want to come when it’s sunny and they can sit on the beach.”

Another general trend that her association has noticed is the booking patterns.

“People have been waiting longer to book. It used to be if you didn’t book your vacation rental in January, there wouldn’t be any availability for the summer,” Jones said, noting how the hotels have seen the same pattern. “With the advent of internet booking, people can wait until the last minute because it’s so easy to book online now.”

Additionally, she said, people will often wait to see if the weather will be good before waiting to book. Franchises have learned to adapt to their market, giving the consumers what they want, such as shorter cancellation periods.

The association has been in regular communication with the Office of Tourism that’s funded through the Town of Ocean City.

“We try to stay in the loop with them and share our numbers with them so they then in turn can work with the advertising agency, who can change up their marketing based on what’s going on,” Jones said.

In terms of the lodging industry’s outlook for the future, Jones says that since Ocean City is a drive-to destination, people will still want to come down when it’s sunny.

“They may see vacancy signs and they may choose to stay overnight. We as a destination are a driving distance to so many large cities, so our outlook is pretty good. We’re going to continue to be optimistic.”