Snowbird Season 2012-2013

Crystal Ball time:

Will the snowbirds return?

Seems the sunbirds stayed away and sweated out their summer in TX, FLA, AZ, etc. Didn't see many here at Lakeside compared to years past.

Anyone hearing anything from those with rentals houses, B&B's, Property Managers, etc. regarding reservations for Oct/Nov. and the rest of the winter season. Now's about the time snowbirds looking for rentals should be making plans and deposits.

Keep looking in your crystal ball like everyone else and hoping most will return.

I have never seen much difference in my 11 years here whether or not the sunbirds come. I think they're a minority. Don't forget the recession in the US and 8.2% unemployment.

My wife just went out rental shopping with a friend and she
says it seemed quite a few places still are not rented for fall
that normally are off the market by now. The way I measure
is to watch the LCS crowds in the morning. More activity in
the last week or so. I am excluding the crowd that came for
the will stuff the other day. It is getting busier at LCS.

Z

well John I can tell you that our friends are telling us business is down because they are much fewer sunbirds.They are not irrelevant for everyone.

Remember John, many if not most of the snowbirds come from Canada. And they often come soon after Canadian Thanksgiving.

And yes business people see a big difference, we always saw a large number of clients returning when I was at Lagunanet, for example and more people at Salvador's etc

binky wrote:Crystal Ball time:

Will the snowbirds return?

Seems the sunbirds stayed away and sweated out their summer in TX, FLA, AZ, etc. Didn't see many here at Lakeside compared to years past.

Anyone hearing anything from those with rentals houses, B&B's, Property Managers, etc. regarding reservations for Oct/Nov. and the rest of the winter season. Now's about the time snowbirds looking for rentals should be making plans and deposits.

Agree on the sunbirds as inquiries were way down. Snowbird season is looking better as we're pretty much booked through April.

brigitte wrote:well John I can tell you that our friends are telling us business is down because they are much fewer sunbirds.They are not irrelevant for everyone.

We all know business is down if you go into the restaurants. I just said I haven't seen much difference in 11 years.

As a general rule we have been slow here at the hotel. Had a bit of a flurry right before school went back in but it has quieted since.
I took a taxi ride this morning and the driver told me he is slow and does not expect to get busy until November when the snowbirds return.

RoofBob at what date do you begin getting booked up???

I have had more inquiries about the winter season lately but none ready to put a deposit down. I understand that Canada has had a warmer/drier summer then usual and just now some places are starting to see overnight lows around the freezing mark, with hot summer like days. This may delay the inquiries this year because many Canadians enjoy the fall season for vacationing in Canada, and most do not start thinking about winter holidays until they feel the first cold weather, which is probably just starting there now.

otrocanuck - Thank you for your post. I see you are from Mississauga. Our best friends here who only come down 10 weeks a year are from Mississauga. What is the name of your Hotel?

Since August is typically a Mexico trip month for us, I can only compare with previous August visits. We were somewhat surprised by by fairly small crowds at Tango (Wed. night), Yves' (Thursday night) and Roberto's (on a two for one Friday night) just last week. I will grant you that we tend to have dinner later than the dinner times expressed on this forum. I also considered the fact that people may have moved up their dinner times so as not to be out after dark given the events from a couple of months ago? While I had considered doing the same, it just seemed that we needed a bit of relax time prior to dinner after being on the go all day.

John
we all know summer is a slower season, my friend are telling me that it is slower than previous year SAME PERIOD.

[quote="otrocanuck"]RoofBob at what date do you begin getting booked up??? quote]

Seems to me September was when the bookings started in earnest. We stopped advertising a few years ago but just started again after the narco business brought us our first vacancy this summer. Now we're booked through the high season and just thinking good thoughts.

We have several snowbird friends all of whom are returning on schedule in October.

Our Canadian friends who frequent Mexico in the winter months are all planning on returning this year. Don't forget that the summer in Canada has been outstanding and many arn't even thinking about those freezing cold winter months that are just around the corner yet!
I believe that our area will see a return of snowbirds once the season there changes. Canadian Thanksgiving is early October, after that the winds begin to blow and the sky darkens! Let's hope so!

Guiness wrote:Our Canadian friends who frequent Mexico in the winter months are all planning on returning this year. Don't forget that the summer in Canada has been outstanding and many arn't even thinking about those freezing cold winter months that are just around the corner yet!
I believe that our area will see a return of snowbirds once the season there changes. Canadian Thanksgiving is early October, after that the winds begin to blow and the sky darkens! Let's hope so!

It would be great to see the Canucks back to help out the businesses, especially the restaurants. Even though we'll have more traffic and less parking places.