Each year in March there’s one week when Summit County locals can generally count on busy roads, crowded grocery stores and a boost in booze sales.
While spring break is technically a season for ski resorts — as breaks can fall in both March and April — the tourism industry in Breckenridge really keeps an eye on spring break for schools and universities in Texas because it’s usually the busiest. This year that week happened to fall between March 8-16.
If things didn’t seem to be quite as packed as they usually are, that’s because they weren’t. Breckenridge saw an 8% drop in bookings during that week.
As to why Texas spring break week saw a dip, Breckenridge Tourism Office public relations director Melissa Andrews said it will take more time and more data to understand why.
While there was an 8% drop in bookings, restaurants and shops in Breckenridge said it didn’t necessarily feel like things were slow. Many restaurants in the core of town reported being slightly less busy, but it wasn’t overly noticeable.
Employee Nick Kyle at the Gold Pan Saloon — a busy spot not just during spring break, but year-round — said it wasn’t glaring, but he added, “Things were definitely a bit slower than we were used to.”
Experts in the tourism industry said that while the rest of March is anticipated to be on par with previous years — the last week of March could even see an increase in bookings, upwards of 6% — things are expected to plummet in April.
Short-term rental booking data is indicating there could be as much as a 15% to 20% drop in visitation in April.
Summit Alliance of Vacation Rental Managers executive director Julie Koster said the timing of Easter is partly to blame.
“With Easter being so early this year on the 31st, that basically kills April,” Koster said. “Easter is kind of the moving target for the end of the season for us.”
She said its typical for things to nearly come to a halt on years with an early Easter since the holiday can signify the end of ski season for many.
As a whole, Koster said the short-term rental industry has seen a decrease in demand for reservations during ski season in recent years, and this season wasn’t an exception. She estimates the drop this year was minimal, around 4% to 6%, but a concerning trend in the industry is expected to persist in the coming ski season.
“The idea of peak rates — when holidays would be three or four times the price of a regular rate on a random night — that concept is gone,” Koster said. “We’re no longer seeing people pay those high-dollar amounts for those peak travel days.”
While peak rates are disappearing, the prices of essentials you can find in a short-term rental, such as towels and shampoo, are increasing.
She said this is having adverse impacts for property owners who generally rely on holiday booking prices to make everything balance out.
Koster said for many in the industry, the sentiment is the amount of work people are doing to support short-term rentals is increasing and revenue is decreasing.
Koster chalks this up to the market getting more competitive and guests getting more savvy. She said bookings are happening later and people book as close to their vacation as possible because they know they have a better chance at getting a cheaper rate. This is also impacting short-term rental’s minimum night requirements, which are going down in order to stay competitive.
While April looks grim, Koster said there’s light at the end of the tunnel. She said July bookings are already outpacing last year’s numbers, and it “looks very, very good. … We’re optimistic for this summer.”
