Sand, sun and savings on spring break
— -- College students and families are waiting longer to book spring breaks, and destinations are baiting the hook with better deals than usual.
Average rates for three-star hotels can be a third to a half less than what they were last year in popular destinations, reports booking site Orbitz.com.
With lower fuel prices and airfare sales, "you can definitely get the deals," says Clem Bason, president of the Hotwire Group, which sells discount hotel rooms. Orlando is Hotwire's 2009 value destination; rates are down more than 10% from the same time last year, Bason says.
"Florida rarely has excess availability (at spring break), and this year it does," he says. Hotwire has booked top accommodations near Walt Disney World's main gate for $85 and four-star Orlando Sea World-area lodgings for $39.
Colorado and other Western ski resorts are offering more promotions and lower spring rates. Las Vegas, which has been limping for months, has rooms in the $20 range. Manhattan rates have slid. Hawaii is hurting. San Diego is deal city. Cruise lines such as Carnival are having sales.
StudentCity.com has been offering a triple in a condo hotel on South Padre Island, Texas — back up after July's Hurricane Dolly — from $264 a person for five nights.
Whether because of economic or job uncertainty or waits for last-minute bargains, vacationers are booking closer to departure, suppliers say.
And many destinations are putting on a full-court press.
In Panama City Beach, Fla., "Deals R Us," quips Dan Rowe, CEO of the city's Convention & Visitors Bureau. While PCB also woos families to its 20-plus miles of Gulf Coast sand, MTV is anchoring spring break coverage through March 21 at the Boardwalk Beach Resort there, as it did last year. Lodgings are vying to fill rooms.
"The kids are coming; they're just shopping around more," says Rowe, adding that this year, revelers can sign up for daily text messages about events while there.
Palm Springs, Calif., once a mecca for vacationing collegians, discouraged them when the late Sonny Bono was mayor in the late '80s and early '90s.
