Hotels along the Hwy-192 corridor in Kissimmee, FL were already feeling the pinch of lower occupancy numbers before this latest economic crunch. Disney’s ability to corral guests to on property hotels had been hurting the local hotels that were still reeling from the last poor travel climate (post 911). But this econocalypse has driven even more over the edge. Just driving around today I saw at least four hotels with new “For Sale” signs in front of them.
Robert Niles of Theme Park Insider has an interesting look at one of the side effects of low occupancy rates and bargain rack rates. You start to attract the wrong element of guests, or at least have the appearance there of. And that’s usually enough to drive away potential customers who are looking for a safe family vacation experience.
Osceola County really needs to get together with these hotels and figure out some sort of game plan to bring back business to the area. I have a few ideas, which I hope to post about in a future post. But feel free to suggest a solution in the comments below.
I think for starters they need to get rid of the roaches, mold, and bedbugs. That would go a long way toward making me want to stay there again. Just a couple bad reviews online about these types of problems is enough to make most people look elsewhere. Although I think what is really killing them is the cheap rates at Disney’s Value resorts. It’s much easier to justify the premium for an onsite resort if it’s only $20-30 more than an offsite hotel.
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