Rev Up - January 2025 Spring Break Preview

Rev Up with Brett/Robinson: Spring Insights
Spring Break 2025 is just around the corner, and as we review early trends, some surprises are emerging in March bookings. Now that we’ve navigated the holidays and the first few flash sales for 2025, let’s dive into what we’re seeing and how we’re responding.
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Early Observations: March Softness
During our Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale, demand for the first three weeks of March was softer than expected. Rates were adjusted accordingly, but despite these changes, pickup remained slow through our Holiday Flash Sale between Christmas and New Year’s. Third-party reporting confirmed this trend as market-wide.
To address this here are some of the actions we've taken:
•    Extending Winter Monthly Guests: We’re reaching out to winter monthly guests departing on March 1 to encourage extended stays where units are available.
•    Enhanced Marketing Efforts: Aggressive email and digital campaigns are targeting Spring Break travelers.
•    Competitive Pricing and Promotions: Rates and promotions for the slower weeks of March are being closely evaluated to ensure competitiveness.
•    Market-Specific Targeting: We’re analyzing booking patterns from our top 25 markets and proactively marketing around their Spring Break booking windows.
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April Optimism and Easter’s Impact
While March trends are softer, the later Easter (April 20) is contributing to stronger April demand. Our data shows:
•    Positive April Demand: Overall, we expect March and April revenue to outpace 2024, driven by strong late-April performance.
•    Occupancy Comparison: The graph below illustrates where we currently stand for March and April 2025 (blue) versus 2024 (red), with final 2024 performance (green) included for reference. Early data shows that while late March/early April is lagging slightly due to last year’s earlier Easter, we anticipate those weeks will fill as we get closer.

 
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Partner Insights
Discussions with OTA partners such as Airbnb and VRBO confirm reduced search and booking activity for January through March by somewhere in the range of 10% vs. where demand was at this same time last year, but reveal optimism for mid-April and beyond. These insights reinforce our approach to:
•    Monitor demand daily.
•    Adjust pricing and promotions swiftly.
•    Leverage historical data to stay ahead of market trends.
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Closing Thoughts
By closely tracking demand and adapting strategies in real time, our team is well-positioned to capture revenue opportunities ahead of our competitors. Spring 2025 is shaping up to be a strong season despite early challenges, and we’re confident in our ability to maximize performance.
Stay tuned for our upcoming post on early Summer trends—you won’t want to miss it!