We're starting to realize that August will be a slower month for us because of the heat. (Actually we predicted it.) We had last weekend off and slept until 10 am. one morning. Very nice..
We will probably be closed next year for the month of August. It is just not worth it to keep everything in 2 houses open for a few room nights. The A/C isn't even covered.
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Samster said:
We will probably be closed next year for the month of August. It is just not worth it to keep everything in 2 houses open for a few room nights. The A/C isn't even covered.
Being in the south and not on the beach, we experineced the same situation as you in August. (well here it is much of the summer.) We use to say that we could leave for the month and NO one would know the difference. We never officially blocked the month off, but did work around the (very) few reservations and took a vacation. I said never, but if we were doing something that required long term planning, we did block those times.
Then something changed in our 5th year of business. We had a fair amount of reservations - if I recall ~30%. We were shocked! Since then, August has been at least that good. And this year, although we did not have any bookings until mid July, we now sit at 43% for this month. And we have blocked off the last 4 days to take a short vacation.
I still do plan the summer months to do most of our inside projects but now have to schedule projects around room bookings and blocking off a room at a time to get them done. This year we are putting in new split system AC/Heat units in each guest room which will help reduce cooling/heating costs when the rooms are not in use.
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Because of your location, I think you get a bit more draw for that major city near you.
Here, there is no draw for the Summer...especially August. The City and CVB would have to do some kind of major push and I don't see that happening in the next year. I think rather than gambling on September next year for our time away, we'll just plan to officially close the rooms to guests in August but of course take calls for other bookings, so the "office" will be open. After 2+ years, it will be time to refresh some of the rooms & that would be a good time to do it. We are experiencing an increase in September bookings over our first year similar to what you're describing.
The other B&Bs here (who have been in business over 10 years) have very, very few bookings too. People really want the hotels with pools.
But sometimes when it comes down to it, even if you try to look at trends, it can be a crap shoot.
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Samster said:
Because of your location, I think you get a bit more draw for that major city near you.
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The other B&Bs here (who have been in business over 10 years) have very, very few bookings too. People really want the hotels with pools.
But sometimes when it comes down to it, even if you try to look at trends, it can be a crap shoot.
Yes, if it wasn't soooo Slooow in that major city in August (July too), I would agree with you! They (hotels & B&B's) are always very hard up for business in August, with rediculous discounts to attract summer business. We on the otherhand are attracting more 'weekend getaways' from about a 3hr radius, familes visiting family, and business travelers. My rates do not get discounted any different than normal (multi night stay) except that I do have a 10th Anniv. special going on this summer (funny that
many MOST are not bitting on this promotion - They must request the offer, it is not just given! I believe I have had about 5 bookings with that promotion and it is a GOOD discount with rates from 1999!)
We do have a pool and will agree that we do get more bookings during the summer which I attribute to having a pool (pull opened in 2005) - same as our increase in August bookings. The funny thing is that although many ask about the pool when they book, we get very few that take advantage of it.
Your last sentence really hits the nail on the head...
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