Where are all the Canadian Snowbirds?

Over the past few years many of you have noticed a small decrease in our Winter Rentals. Christina and I have received calls from owners wondering why. I was also puzzled that after having a record 2015 how the sales have slipped in the first quarter of this year. Every Sunday morning, I track our occupancy and rental sales figures and compare them to the historical data that we have collected over the years, so I am very familiar with the trends.

Canadian Snowbirds account for between 60 to 65 percent of our Winter Rentals. Historically the Canadian Dollar has been stronger than the US, which has been very attractive to Canadian Snowbirds. Anyone staying more than 90 days in the resort is also TAX FREE. This has helped the Snowbirds save an additional 13%. Over the past 3 years the Canadian exchange has steadily decreased to under 70 cents compared to the US Dollar. Canadian vacations are now costing 30% more than before, which is causing many of them to vacation locally or not at all. For more information click here.

The Chamber of Commerce in Florida has reported the median age of Snowbirds to be 69.1 years old. This data was collected in 2005. As the years go by Myrtle Beach’s core of Snowbirds gets older and older and many either cancel or don’t return due to illness or doctors care.

3 steps combat this trend without having the ability to fix the exchange rate?

Step 1 We are active members of the Chamber of Commerce who have strong Canadian campaigns underway on TV and digitally to attract more guests from the north. They have sales representatives that attend all of the conventions and work with local organizations to promote Myrtle Beach. They coordinate with airlines, restaurants and resorts to offer special deals to those with a Canadian ID. The Chamber is now targeting a demographic of professionals entering a retirement age. We are the only city in the US to take proactive stance.

Step 2 Our staff has been calling all of our past guests that didn’t re-book this year offering them special discounts to try to entice them to return. The results that they are hearing are the same as what the Chamber has reported. We have paid for Chamber of Commerce email blasts from the Chamber’s database, directed at long term rentals. Lastly we have email blasted our own database on a weekly basis, and used our social media experts to reach out to our Canadian guests. We have also created Canada16 coupon which discounts 25% for the entire year of 2016 to help out the exchange rate.

Step 3 Help us get your HOA’s to stop battling over silly lawsuits, and approve the activities package that was presented last year. Other resorts have full time Activities Directors to lead and organize activities that will draw in guests from other resorts and hotels. To be competitive in the market we need to be organized and aggressive as a whole community.