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At Carolina Mornings we have noticed people booking closer to arrival rather than a month or more in advance, and wanting shorter stays. 2-3 days instead of 4-5 or a week. We have ended up okay by the end of each month, but going into it we are always down below our usual numbers. We are pretty booked up for Thanksgiving, although we do still have some available – especially smaller rentals; and Christmas/New Year’s are looking okay so far. We are branching out into the luxury market because those folks will keep traveling, unless the economy REALLY crashes. We are also reaching out to those in our region who can travel up and stay with us for just a few days. Our owners have done a great job offering incentives like gas rebates and gift certificates.
In other words, we’re pluggin along busy as ever at keeping our guests happy, doing our marketing, and reaching out in other aspects of our business (like property management).
I work in a downtown restaurant and it has definitely been slow. There’s always a slump right before the big holiday season because people are spending money on presents instead of going out to eat…but it does seem to be slower than last year. Not even a single catering event this week. I’ve NEVER seen that!
The majority of the customers are the regulars, with less tourists than I’m used to. The newbies seem to whine about prices more, as well.
I don’t know about retail stores, but yeah…restaurants are not doing so hot.
As a vacation rental owner, I have had a decrease in the number of guests staying at my rental property. Down about 20% from last year. The biggest change is the reservations are shorter, guests not staying as long.
We keep talking about how bad things are in this old manufacturing town in Ohio, but every time I go near a restaurant, it’s packed. If you have a job – it’s a great time to buy. You just gotta hope that job is going to last.
You always hear talk about how resilient our local economy is, and perhaps that’s what we’re seeing. I’m not sure what happened to all the leaf-lookers, but there are still tourists in town. And as long as people keep eating out, keep buying drinks and keep buying local art, I think we’ll make it through this.
Thanks for the input, everybody.
I’ve also gotten reports that the River District Studio Stroll over the weekend was nothing short of a smashing success, with tons of people out and about, with wallets open.
I am an artist and I work the Church St. Art and Craft Show every year in Waynesville. This years’ show was the best one day street festival I have EVER done – and I’ve been doing these shows throughout the Southeast for over 10 years! Go figure!
Also, I got my tix to the Sat night Avett Bros. show – & it’s on my birthday! I can’t wait!
Made a couple of ventures into the mall/B&N/Best Buy/Target/Wanker*Mart area over the weekend, and you’d be hard pressed to tell there’s any economic slowdown. Traffic was just as congested as always; the stores as packed as always. Ended up purchasing a different flat screen TV than the one I wanted because (at least according to the sales person) they were out of my preferred model (and only had one left of this lower model) because so many people have been buying them in the past couple of weeks.
Ok, here is my opinion. Early shopping usually means people are pretty secure with their funds. That’s weird, did the Stock Market not tank. Maybe they are using up what is left of their Home Equity Line before they foreclose on their house. Who knows? Even though Asheville has been getting the crowds on weekends shoppers are not picking up those big ticket items so easy. They seem to be window shopping, kicking tires, or just buying small items. As for small surrounding towns, they are dead and sleepy, just like before all the city folk moved here and brought their money and rebuilt them. I am sure all will pass and the city folks funds will begin to flow again. Thank god we have city folk now to keep us alive, because you sure can’t rely on manufacturing or textiles anymore. Thank you.
P.S. What happened to all the leaf people?