If you’re staying in town for the holidays, you may come in contact with many others who didn’t stay in theirs — travelers seeking end-of-year bargains.
A joint study released this weekend by Priceline and RetailMeNot shows that Kissimmee is the fourth most affordable destination by average nightly hotel rate this holiday season.
Kissimmee’s rate of $145 per night is only outdone by Las Vegas ($130), Pigeon Forge, Tenn. ($140) and Washington, D.C. ($140).
Those visitors may be driving in if they aren’t willing to pay a pretty penny for the plane — the Orlando market is the second-most popular destination for vacation by flight, although it doesn’t appear in the top 10 most affordable destinations by flight (Philadelphia is 10th at $343 for an average airfare), the survey said. It also noted just over half (51 percent) of consumers plan to travel this holiday season to visit family or to take a vacation.
According to research from the Business Applications and Insights team at Experience Kissimmee, Osceola County’s tourism marketing arm, the average price for an available room is heavily influenced by the high booking rates for some hotels. For some high-end hotels, prices are a lot higher than usual. (for example, rooms are available at Gaylord Palms for New Year's Eve starting at $679).
Most hotels have high booking volumes for the holidays and several hotels are already fully booked for New Year’s Eve. With some upscale hotels are already fully booked and more budget-friendly options still available, the average price of a bookable room is on the lower end. Current bookings are skewed towards high-end hotels and current availability is in lower price segments.
EK also reports that vacation homes are also in high demand in the area for those looking for high-end stays of seven to 14 days.
