Travel Trends: Shorter Length Of Stay

Covid affected everyone and every industry. In the travel sector, we rode the ups and the downs, watched for trends, and reacted as quickly as possible. Fortunately, not all of the changes brought on by the pandemic were negative. After the quarantine was lifted, we saw a dramatic increase in bookings over the previous year. Pent-up demand was released, and literal pent-up travelers hit the road. At that point, they made up for lost time by taking more and longer vacations. Remote work blurred the lines between business and leisure travel and gave rise to “bleisure travel.” These remote-working travelers also called “laptop luggers” did work on the road and could extend the length of their stay because of schedule flexibility.

However, by the end of 2022, we saw that length of stay (LOS) had dropped sharply. In a November 2022 article published by Inntopia, author Tom Foley states: “After gaining an average of 1.49 nights in 2021 compared to 2019, length of stay (LOS) of bookings has dropped sharply over the course of 2022, regardless of arrival date or day of the week. Bookings made in October were just 0.09 nights longer than in 2019, and average LOS for 2022 is up just 0.3 nights versus 2019, almost completely reversing the pandemic trend. Return-to-office, high room rates, and economic headwinds are contributing factors and suggest opportunities to extend stays with value-add and other incentives.”

As your property manager and partner, it is our duty to pay close attention to industry trends and make adjustments and recommendations that will lead to your success. With that in mind, we want to stress how important it will be to allow 2-night reservations this year, provided your association supports it. We feel strongly that this small adjustment will help maximize rental income in 2023. Please feel free to reach out to Kathy Harr by email (alabamabeaches@itrip.net) or phone (251-974-1404), to make sure your property is set to allow these shorter stays.