Spring Bookings

[Samster]

Boo hoo!! Our May bookings are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down from last year and we had virtually just opened!! We only have about 5 room nights booked for the entire month now that a whole house booking for a wedding group over Memorial Day weekend cancelled. Wah!

That would have made our month because it was all rooms for 3 days plus some packages. Double wah!

I am even running a May special. Maybe the bad economy is catching up with folks......
How goes it for the rest of y'all??

 

[Morticia]

Sloooooooooooooooow. Nothing until Mem Day. Not even with discounts.

 

[Samster]

Sloooooooooooooooow. Nothing until Mem Day. Not even with discounts..

April was very busy for us and we have plenty of events happening here this month. It's weird...I talked to one of the other B&B owners and their bookings are way down too. Bummer...

 

[egoodell]

I am even running a May special. Maybe the bad economy is catching up with folks......
How goes it for the rest of y'all??

We are slow and steady - one of our two suites is booked off and on but that is because we have graduation and we have the wine tours. But it is not busy. And not booked for Mem Day yet.
Riki

 

[EmptyNest]

Most here in our town are booking well. Though some have lots of repeat guests. My best friends have had guests for like 20 days straight!!!! Tires me out thinking about it.
On average though most folks I talk to here are very upbeat and pleased with their reservations. Now of course with a week of rain behind us and another week ahead...who knows what will happen. Though..it will make for better trips on the river.

 

[Samster]

Sloooooooooooooooow. Nothing until Mem Day. Not even with discounts..

Does your season normally start with Memorial Day? Seems like I remember that from years ago when we traveled up your way.

 

[muirford]

May looks pretty good so far; Memorial Day is almost full and we've got a lot of room nights this week with a group of bicyclists. They came even with the rain, although they have a lot of pent-up energy. TG today it's not raining! This time of year we get a lot of last-minute calls and the weather keeps that from happening, but I think we'll do okay.

 

[gillumhouse]

Every year at this point in time I have sat here with my mantra - the reservation book is empty until the phone rings. This year is out of the norm and I am grateful. This year I have had reservations on the books sine mid-January. Not enough to live on, but reservations. July is going to be my kick-butt month so far. But then the phone will ring and the other weeks will fill in. Always has so far........

 

[Morticia]

Sloooooooooooooooow. Nothing until Mem Day. Not even with discounts..

Does your season normally start with Memorial Day? Seems like I remember that from years ago when we traveled up your way.
.

Does your season normally start with Memorial Day? Seems like I remember that from years ago when we traveled up your way.

We don't really have a 'season' per se. We're slower now than in the summer, but never this slow. I went back and checked and previous years we were full every weekend and had 2-3 rooms/night during the week. Because people are traveling (my parents said it was busy everywhere they went in April) it appears that it is somewhat regional where the traveling is not occurring. I know places north of me who are truly not 'in season' are much busier than we are.
For this I 'blame' the folks in charge of promoting this area. They aren't. And it's tough for an individual business to bring in herds of guests if the NAME of the town isn't known.

 

[EmptyNest]

Sloooooooooooooooow. Nothing until Mem Day. Not even with discounts..

Does your season normally start with Memorial Day? Seems like I remember that from years ago when we traveled up your way.
.

Does your season normally start with Memorial Day? Seems like I remember that from years ago when we traveled up your way.

We don't really have a 'season' per se. We're slower now than in the summer, but never this slow. I went back and checked and previous years we were full every weekend and had 2-3 rooms/night during the week. Because people are traveling (my parents said it was busy everywhere they went in April) it appears that it is somewhat regional where the traveling is not occurring. I know places north of me who are truly not 'in season' are much busier than we are.
For this I 'blame' the folks in charge of promoting this area. They aren't. And it's tough for an individual business to bring in herds of guests if the NAME of the town isn't known.
.

So what is the traffic like at LL Bean?? and the other shops. Maybe they think LL will pull them in and no advertising necessary :-( So how come there are no B &B's listed under lodging at the portland maine site??? Just hotels? Do you have to be a paying member to show up there?

 

[Morticia]

Sloooooooooooooooow. Nothing until Mem Day. Not even with discounts..

Does your season normally start with Memorial Day? Seems like I remember that from years ago when we traveled up your way.
.

Does your season normally start with Memorial Day? Seems like I remember that from years ago when we traveled up your way.

We don't really have a 'season' per se. We're slower now than in the summer, but never this slow. I went back and checked and previous years we were full every weekend and had 2-3 rooms/night during the week. Because people are traveling (my parents said it was busy everywhere they went in April) it appears that it is somewhat regional where the traveling is not occurring. I know places north of me who are truly not 'in season' are much busier than we are.
For this I 'blame' the folks in charge of promoting this area. They aren't. And it's tough for an individual business to bring in herds of guests if the NAME of the town isn't known.
.

So what is the traffic like at LL Bean?? and the other shops. Maybe they think LL will pull them in and no advertising necessary :-( So how come there are no B &B's listed under lodging at the portland maine site??? Just hotels? Do you have to be a paying member to show up there?
.

Slow, it is slow all over town. LL is laying off.
What Portland site? The CVB site? (visitportland.com) If yes, it is almost $800 to list with them. We got 2 bookings in 2 years listing on that site, did not pay for itself at all. If that is not the site, let me know which one you mean. Part of the problem with listing anything in Portland is that guests looking for Portland do not want 'this far' away. They want the city.

 

[EmptyNest]

Sloooooooooooooooow. Nothing until Mem Day. Not even with discounts..

Does your season normally start with Memorial Day? Seems like I remember that from years ago when we traveled up your way.
.

Does your season normally start with Memorial Day? Seems like I remember that from years ago when we traveled up your way.

We don't really have a 'season' per se. We're slower now than in the summer, but never this slow. I went back and checked and previous years we were full every weekend and had 2-3 rooms/night during the week. Because people are traveling (my parents said it was busy everywhere they went in April) it appears that it is somewhat regional where the traveling is not occurring. I know places north of me who are truly not 'in season' are much busier than we are.
For this I 'blame' the folks in charge of promoting this area. They aren't. And it's tough for an individual business to bring in herds of guests if the NAME of the town isn't known.
.

So what is the traffic like at LL Bean?? and the other shops. Maybe they think LL will pull them in and no advertising necessary :-( So how come there are no B &B's listed under lodging at the portland maine site??? Just hotels? Do you have to be a paying member to show up there?
.

Slow, it is slow all over town. LL is laying off.
What Portland site? The CVB site? (visitportland.com) If yes, it is almost $800 to list with them. We got 2 bookings in 2 years listing on that site, did not pay for itself at all. If that is not the site, let me know which one you mean. Part of the problem with listing anything in Portland is that guests looking for Portland do not want 'this far' away. They want the city.
.

http://www.portlandmaine.com
Oh...I forget..you are not actually in Portland:-( Sorry

 

[Morticia]

Sloooooooooooooooow. Nothing until Mem Day. Not even with discounts..

Does your season normally start with Memorial Day? Seems like I remember that from years ago when we traveled up your way.
.

Does your season normally start with Memorial Day? Seems like I remember that from years ago when we traveled up your way.

We don't really have a 'season' per se. We're slower now than in the summer, but never this slow. I went back and checked and previous years we were full every weekend and had 2-3 rooms/night during the week. Because people are traveling (my parents said it was busy everywhere they went in April) it appears that it is somewhat regional where the traveling is not occurring. I know places north of me who are truly not 'in season' are much busier than we are.
For this I 'blame' the folks in charge of promoting this area. They aren't. And it's tough for an individual business to bring in herds of guests if the NAME of the town isn't known.
.

So what is the traffic like at LL Bean?? and the other shops. Maybe they think LL will pull them in and no advertising necessary :-( So how come there are no B &B's listed under lodging at the portland maine site??? Just hotels? Do you have to be a paying member to show up there?
.

Slow, it is slow all over town. LL is laying off.
What Portland site? The CVB site? (visitportland.com) If yes, it is almost $800 to list with them. We got 2 bookings in 2 years listing on that site, did not pay for itself at all. If that is not the site, let me know which one you mean. Part of the problem with listing anything in Portland is that guests looking for Portland do not want 'this far' away. They want the city.
.

http://www.portlandmaine.com
Oh...I forget..you are not actually in Portland:-( Sorry
.

Yup, that's it...not in Portland and that website seems pretty specific. Useful to me, tho, because I can use their calendar.

 

[gillumhouse]

Sloooooooooooooooow. Nothing until Mem Day. Not even with discounts..

Does your season normally start with Memorial Day? Seems like I remember that from years ago when we traveled up your way.
.

Does your season normally start with Memorial Day? Seems like I remember that from years ago when we traveled up your way.

We don't really have a 'season' per se. We're slower now than in the summer, but never this slow. I went back and checked and previous years we were full every weekend and had 2-3 rooms/night during the week. Because people are traveling (my parents said it was busy everywhere they went in April) it appears that it is somewhat regional where the traveling is not occurring. I know places north of me who are truly not 'in season' are much busier than we are.
For this I 'blame' the folks in charge of promoting this area. They aren't. And it's tough for an individual business to bring in herds of guests if the NAME of the town isn't known.
.

So what is the traffic like at LL Bean?? and the other shops. Maybe they think LL will pull them in and no advertising necessary :-( So how come there are no B &B's listed under lodging at the portland maine site??? Just hotels? Do you have to be a paying member to show up there?
.

Slow, it is slow all over town. LL is laying off.
What Portland site? The CVB site? (visitportland.com) If yes, it is almost $800 to list with them. We got 2 bookings in 2 years listing on that site, did not pay for itself at all. If that is not the site, let me know which one you mean. Part of the problem with listing anything in Portland is that guests looking for Portland do not want 'this far' away. They want the city.
.

When I got the money from Daddy's estate I joined the Morgantown Chamber to get listed and pick up some WVU traffic. Well it got me a lot of calls but NO business because although we are about 30 miles away, it takes 45 minutes and they wanted 5 I guess. Never again!

 

[happykeeper]

We are hanging in there. May is quiet as usual and June is nearing the happy point. We have seen a BIG change in last minutes and we are seeing very few long term planners. 30 days out used to be when you would assume folks were booked. Now it is the reverse. As long as there are last minute airfare deals, we'll see last minute rezies. The local retreat side of our business is keeping the stress-o-meter down.

 

[swirt]

I have to agree...April usually starts slow for us but by late April we should be running at max occupancy. Not so this year. Numbers are down, lots of openings ahead...I would start to think it was something we did until I check my regional site and see the the other inns are all open too. (recession, scare of flu...) I think is leading to a slow start for this tourist region.
I've heard similar from clients in other parts of the country.... the odd thing is, all of the web traffic is UP...must be a lot of people hoping/dreaming to get away, but running smack into the expense of getting away.

 

[Morticia]

I have to agree...April usually starts slow for us but by late April we should be running at max occupancy. Not so this year. Numbers are down, lots of openings ahead...I would start to think it was something we did until I check my regional site and see the the other inns are all open too. (recession, scare of flu...) I think is leading to a slow start for this tourist region.
I've heard similar from clients in other parts of the country.... the odd thing is, all of the web traffic is UP...must be a lot of people hoping/dreaming to get away, but running smack into the expense of getting away..

Hey, I'll be there in a few weeks! (Not with you, too far, but the general area.) I may call and drive over if I can tear myself away from the new g-baby.

 

[Samster]

May looks pretty good so far; Memorial Day is almost full and we've got a lot of room nights this week with a group of bicyclists. They came even with the rain, although they have a lot of pent-up energy. TG today it's not raining! This time of year we get a lot of last-minute calls and the weather keeps that from happening, but I think we'll do okay..

Congrats...I hope it continues. Send the good Karma down here to the South, please.

 

[happyjacks]

Spring is a very slow season around here. My high season rates don't kick in until the last weekend of June. But April was way up compared to last year and May will do even better based on the bookings so far. If we fill up for the May Two-Four like we usually do, that'll be even better.
The black flies just came out in the last couple days so they'll start biting any day now. They're earlier than usual by a week or two so that could slow things down until we get some good hot weather. I don't even want to be here during black fly season; it seems cruel to try to entice guests to come.

 

[swirt]

I have to agree...April usually starts slow for us but by late April we should be running at max occupancy. Not so this year. Numbers are down, lots of openings ahead...I would start to think it was something we did until I check my regional site and see the the other inns are all open too. (recession, scare of flu...) I think is leading to a slow start for this tourist region.
I've heard similar from clients in other parts of the country.... the odd thing is, all of the web traffic is UP...must be a lot of people hoping/dreaming to get away, but running smack into the expense of getting away..

Hey, I'll be there in a few weeks! (Not with you, too far, but the general area.) I may call and drive over if I can tear myself away from the new g-baby.
.

Well you can hold bwirt and tell youself he is a grand LOL Drool is drool right?
You have to come this way, all the good wineries are in this direction from where you are staying