Despite a mild winter up north, all-inclusive resorts south of the border and throughout much of the Caribbean report brisk business, strong forward bookings and, in some instances, demand outpacing supply of room inventory.
Resort officials offered various explanations for the strong winter, but none attributed the brisk booking pace to the Costa Concordia accident, which some cruise industry players had worried might send vacationers packing for other destinations and products.
Joachim Schoenfeldt, Riu Hotels & Resorts’ vice president, sales and contracting, said that for the winter season “our Mexican and Caribbean hotels have enjoyed high occupancies with no noticeable change since the incident with the Costa Concordia.”
Riu has 16 properties in Mexico’s resort areas and 14 in the Caribbean (Bahamas, Dominican Republic and Jamaica).
“We might have to wait for the next months to see if, in fact, cruise clients switch to all-inclusive resorts,” he said.
The tendency to switch vacation plans might be more evident in Europe than in the U.S., “since the affected clients of the Concordia were primarily European,” Schoenfeldt speculated.
At Couples Resorts’ four Jamaica properties, the booking pace “has grown substantially year over year, but we cannot necessarily attribute the growth to the Concordia incident,” said Randy Russell, senior vice president.
In fact, the company is confident enough that its growth will continue that it plans to raise its rates “a bit” for the rest of the year when the current booking window expires on March 15, Russell said.
Requests for 2013 and 2014 already are coming in, Russell said, prompting Couples to increase its 2013 prices, valid for travel from Dec. 26, 2012, through Dec. 25, 2013, between 10% and 15%.
Couples also plans to introduce early-booking incentives, discounts, resort credits, free travel insurance and reduced group size requirements “to mitigate slower travel from mid-August through October,” Russell said.
Occidental Hotels & Resorts, with three properties in the Caribbean and six in Mexico, “has seen no negative impact” from the Concordia event, according to a spokesman.
Butch Stewart, chairman and founder of Sandals Resorts International, said, “I don’t think there was much of a fallout [from the Concordia incident]. It was an unfortunate event, and the public understands that cruising is safe and accidents do happen.
“So while we won’t draw a line between the tragedy and the bookings, the fact is that January is a traditionally busy booking period for us, and this winter is no exception,” Stewart said.
Despite this winter’s lack of snow — typically motivation for travelers to pack up and head for the sun — “we’re doing quite well, and forward trends are positive,” Stewart said.
While sales are strong at Iberostar’s 10 Caribbean and nine Mexican resorts, there is nothing to indicate that the Concordia accident prompted an increase in bookings, according to a spokesman.
The same holds true for Barcelo Hotels & Resorts’ 11 properties in the Caribbean and 13 in Mexico.
“Although Barcelo resorts in the Caribbean and Mexico are seeing solid occupancy levels for the winter season, the company has no data to prove that this is a result of travelers’ lack of interest in cruising due to the Concordia tragedy,” said Claudio Zboznovits, vice president of sales and marketing for Latin America in the U.S.
He reported a “steady stream of travelers to our properties in the Caribbean and Mexico this winter. These destinations are trending to become our most popular for 2012.”
“Strong revenues and solid bookings” is the report from Divi Resorts’ eight Caribbean properties, but the uptick this winter could not be tracked to a falloff in cruise interest due to the Concordia.
“In the Mexican Caribbean, we have not seen any increase in occupancies due to the Concordia tragedy,” said Vicente Madrigal, senior director sales for the Paradis Playa del Carmen and Melia Hotels International.
Melia Hotels International has six Caribbean resorts and 10 in Mexico under several brands.
Follow Gay Nagle Myers on Twitter @gnmtravelweekly.