"Starting the Saturday before Easter, our vacation rentals start filling up," said Taylor Damonte, director of the Clay Brittain Jr. Center for Resort Tourism at Coastal Carolina University. "I'm expecting us to be virtually full for the weekend of Easter ... for hotel-condohotels."
Vacation rentals - beach houses and condos rented on a weekly basis - are already 87 percent booked for the week leading up to Easter, according to Damonte's sampling of properties. That's 21 percentage points higher than the same time last year, and occupancy will gain further with last-minute bookings leading up to the holiday, Damonte said.
Hotels and condohotels will likely be 90 percent to 98 percent full, up from 70 percent last Easter weekend, according to Damonte's survey data. The weeks aren't completely comparable because Easter fell almost three weeks earlier last year, he said. Occupancy for the start of this month was not as strong as a result, but April occupancy overall is expected to be greater than the same month last year, Damonte said.
Hotels will be able to raise room rates as a result of the late Easter, said John Daniels, general manager of The Breakers Resort. "We all get a premium rate over holidays but when a holiday is late in April, when you're guaranteed good weather, [it] allows a higher nightly rate," Daniels said.
Daniels said he expects The Breakers' occupancy to be up about 8 percent surrounding Easter compared to the same weeks last year.
Family Kingdom Amusement Park expects strong sales around Easter, although it will be tough to top last year, general manager Donnie Sipes said. The park opens on weekends for most of the spring, but operates for a full week before and after Easter. "Typically, it's better later in the season because of the weather, but last year was the best season we ever had because weather was too cool for the beach," he said.
The park will also run specials on admissions around Easter to attract holiday vacationers, Sipes said.
Good or bad weather for Easter can still affect last-minute bookings and swing occupancies as much as 10 percent, Damonte said. A late Easter reduces the chance of bad weather. Spring will contribute to expected occupancy growth of 7 percent for 2011. Although Damonte expects a 2 percent to 3 percent rise in room rates for the year, that's far less predictable and industry watchers will have to wait and see what the season brings. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what is leading to a growth this spring season, he said.
"I've been saying for some time that that's what happens when Easter comes later, but how much of that is weather driven, how much of it is economy driven, how much of it is calendar driven, how much of that is advertising driven - it's all of the above," Damonte said.
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