With Recession Looming, High-End Lodgings Offer Luxe for Less
Hoteliers Lure Vistors with Deals in Hopes of Making a Profit as Stock Market Sinks
Ritz-Carlton resorts are bringing back a "Reconnect" package this winter, this time with resort credits that lower the cost. The Ritz-Carlton Golf & Spa Resort, Rose Hall, Jamaica, has a rate of $465 with $120 resort credit. Hot breakfasts are included, too.
Other chain and independent lodgings are tossing in meals, parking and spa services.
Across the board, the lodging business is suffering along with other industries.
"Oh, we got Trouble, right here in River City, with a capital 'T' that rhymes with 'E,' that stands for Economy!" Richard Hendrie of Hospitality Performance consulting firm wrote in his newsletter, grimly parodying a song from The Music Man. "Hospitality businesses are being slammed."
Occupancy is down
September hotel occupancy and revenue in the USA were down across the board, Smith Travel Research reports. Occupancy dropped 5.9% from September 2007; revenue per available room was 3.1% lower. The luxury segment, doing better than the rest of the industry earlier this year, now is suffering the worst revenue drop.
Even super-wealthy travelers and ultra-chic getaways are feeling pain as portfolios plummet.
Melissa Biggs Bradley, the former editor of Town & Country Travel who started a membership luxury travel planning website called Indagare (Latin for "explore"), tells of a pal who's trying to sell her non-refundable Christmas stay at the $1,000-plus-daily Guanahani Hotel & Spa on the Caribbean island of St. Barts.
Wayne Hudson, who helps rent neighbors' villas in the exclusive community of Costa Careyes, Mexico, south of Puerto Vallarta, says the international jet set still will fly in on private planes to celebrate Christmas and New Year's with fabulous house parties. (Last year, one villa renter from L.A. brought in a band and chef from Morocco for a Casablanca-themed bash.) Heidi Klum and Seal are among VIPs with villas there.
But Americans are booking fewer rentals, which can run to six figures, Hudson says. "Some very wealthy people who in the past have entertained lavishly for the holidays have decided to pass this year, playing it cautious."
Richard David Story, editor in chief of Departures magazine, whose 1 million-plus readers hold American Express Platinum and Centurion cards and include lots of millionaires, is being sensitive to the tenor of the times.
While readers probably still can afford lavish trips, "you just don't want to raise a red velvet flag in front of people now," he says. "It just seems irresponsible." So he has promoted stories such as "Stretching the Euro" that might normally not rate a place on a Departures cover.
