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Myrtle Beach Hotels see slow start

Myrtle Beach Hotels on the Oceanfront and those around Broadway at the Beach are seeing a slow start to Summer rentals. With the economic reversals of Fall 2008, Myrtle Beach experienced a slow end to rentals in the period that ran from October through December as well.

"We have seen a soft beginning to 2008", said J Goldstein, manager of Coastal Golf Away. Coastal Golf Away is one of the premier golf vacation companies in the area that runs from Ocean Isle Beach to Pawleys Island. "We are hoping that consumer confidence will grow with the new administration in place."

"The misery index is real high right now", said Christina Taylor, a sales account executive for Myrtle Beach Hotels.

"We are waiting for March". stated Bruce Kligman, owner of Kligs Kites. "For our business, we really don't know the effects until the tourists either come and spend, come and don't spend, or don't come."

Many hotels in Myrtle Beach, SC are seeing reservations for Summer months booked at half of what was on the books at this same time in 2008. "People are just waiting longer this year to make reservations", said Bob Cline, owner of Cherry Grove Realty, a company that does sales and vacation rentals.

While the new administration is promising hope, Myrtle Beach vacation rentals and area hotels just aren't feeling it yet.

Myrtle Beach Real Estate sales have seen a small blip up according to the Sun News recent blog about Condo Lux.

Perhaps we are nearing the bottom of an economic decline or perhaps the bottom is just ahead. It does appear that consumers are worried in general and vacation spending will happen last minute this year, if at all.

What's your opinion? Has the economic recession moved beyond the real estate industry in your area?

Posted by Myrtle Beach South Carolina Marketing on 01/26/2009 02:13 PM

Comments (11)

Myrtle Beach Hotels See Slow Start in the Online Marketing Channel

myrtle beach hotels, myrtle beach hotels on the oceanfront, myrtle beach vacation rentals

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11 Comments on Myrtle Beach Hotels see slow start

JAN

Good post; thank you!

Did the Sun News define that blip? Was it a monthly "blip"? It must have been, because our quarters look like this (and this is what the MLS gave us, which is as optimistic as it comes, and does not take into consideration the foreclosure transactions, not effected through the mls and other variables and errors).

Condos:

Quarter:	Total Listings:	Number Sold:	Percentage Sold:
1	3,022	619	20.48%
2	2,658	854	32.13%
3	2,336	696	29.79%
4	2,108	476	22.58%

My own stats, which I go through with a fine tooth comb, are even more dismal. My participation in the Horry County Foreclosure sale gives me access to those stats as well. All is all, I assure you, there is no blip up. It's more like a blood bath!

Honestly, it is very bad for the Sellers in Myrtle Beach.

Which makes it very enticing for the Buyers...

A weak rental year is going to crush a lot of Owners who are still barely hanging on... Sad, but true! Thank you for the post! It helps to know where the rental market it. Much appreciated, indeed!

I just re-blogged this and with your permission I will also insert it on our company blog. Pertinent information for a lot of people.

Mirela,

No, the Sun News did not confirm the blog and it was on their MBSun blog. So, don't know how trustworthy those facts are or are not. It does look like a weak rental year could happen.

Thanks for your comments....

David

JAN

David, I think there are a few points that should be cleared up about that "blog" you are referring to.

I thought at first that the blog at www.mbsun.com was the Sun News. Turns out it belongs to the MB National golf course instead. They posted this blog yesterday, referring to OUR press release. found HERE.

Since January 1, the leads that I myself see for sales have doubled. I am presently involved with 4 sales sites and see the leads coming in. I am not making that up. The sales crew at Condolux have all the leads they can handle right now, and it's been that way for 3 weeks. Now 3 weeks of heavy leads is not enough time to translate into SALES. December was terrible for sales leads. But the leads are there now, the interest is there, and in my opinion, that will produce sales to match in a few more weeks.

Martin himself said that he had one of the best Decembers in rental reservations that he's ever had. I am taking his word for that, because I'm not involved with his rental business now. His sites rank at the top for most of the rental search terms. He has a LOT of websites. And he advertises on MyrtleBeach.com and several other big sites, too.

The main search term of "MB Hotels" is the biggie, at 184 searches a day. Maybe I'm missing it, but I don't see anybody ranking for that term in the top 10 except Burroughs and Chapin, the Brittains, and the biggest vacation sites like Trip Advisor and Yahoo. With the term hotels, the next best one is "hotels in mb", (69) and then "oceanfront hotels in mb" (65) which again, I see nobody ranking except the big dogs and directories. I suspect that might be the reason you aren't finding vacation rentals to be as heavy as Condolux is. Am I wrong? I don't remember for sure which sites are yours.

We have 2 sites in the top five for MB foreclosures, and the #3 and #4 sites for MB Real Estate. Those are the only two terms of any importance to real estate right now. So I'm not surprised that others are not seeing the volume of leads that we are. I would like to hear Jeff Casterline and Darren Woodard's report on what kind of traffic and leads they are getting in #1 and #2 places. If you don't have a website that ranks for the top search terms, you will never get the volume of leads that those who do will get, I'm afraid.

As far as I can see, and my Realtor friends all agree, it's really shaping up during the month of January. The girls that participated in that press release were in Greenville, Sarasota FL, and Los Angeles, and they are seeing it too.

Jan,

Thanks for your insight. Your knowledge of the search engines and terms are incredible and accurate. And yes, the key search terms are gobbled up by a few members in our community. As far as Google search terms are concerned, with the advent of more and more 3G phones, GOOGLE MAPS are becoming as important as the search itself. Google Maps trumps a web search on many Iphone default searches, but once again, a few members dominate those terms.

Myrtle Beach Hotels is definetly dominated by Myrtlebeachhotels.com and Myrtlebeach.com, both associated with one strong rental company and these same people are on the map as well.

Our team has has been blessed to dominate the term Oceanfront Hotels in Myrtle Beach as you may see here by clicking google web search for that term and seeing who is on that map.

Bruce Clay, of SEO fame, is stating that Google has changed its algorithyms now so that everyone is getting different results based on their previous search patterns. Let me know if MyrtleBeachHOtelcondo.com comes up here alone as that is our site. This is what comes up alone for me.

As far as the quotes above from local business owners, this is simply what they are experiencing. I absolutely trust the information you sent out.

As that is true, it sounds like this will be a year of have's and have nots based on a knowledge of internet marketing and positioning.

With that said, this really gives you and I an opportunity to help some hurting people. My hope is that eveyone can enjoy a good year this season. Obviously, those who have worked the hardest on managing opportunities will do better first.

Love you and all you do and are.

David

David, I re-blogged this yesterday, just so I could have it on my outside blog. I did not introduce it to any groups, so it did not have the exposure necessary, yet it has already garnered 6 very good comments.

I am elevating this post to featured status in our Optimist Group. I think it's relevant information and I look forward to the input we'll get!

I'm with Jan. We have seen tremendous activity since December. The issue here is not how busy we are right now. The issue is past performance as an indicator. What Jan is forgetting is that although we are extremely busy, a lot of it is due to the fact that we have lost more than 2/3 or our agents.

They have 8 agents at Condolux. From what I understand they have 10 or more at C21 Harrellson and they are selling very well. I think they have always done better than most in Myrtle Beach.

The last I heard 5-6 months ago, Hoffman was doing ok...but I've been hearing rumblings lately that they weren't doing as well now.

I don't know the exact number of leads coming in from every single website right now, but I think it would probably be at least 12-15 per day. That isn't the 30-50 that we were getting during the gold rush, but 1.5 leads per agent every single day can mount up before you know it.

Anyway, the agents are ecstatic. I guess that's what counts.

JAN

Jan, I certainly don't mind less competition. The good ones are still standing, so it's only befitting that they reap the benefits...

May we have an awesome year!

BTW, I didn't know those particular offices shrunk that much. Condolux has only two more agents than my office and C-21 has only four more? Wow! I always billed our company as the boutique brokerage. I guess they all went "boutique"...

I should pay more attention to what everyone is doing, but I don't. I'm too busy running the business AND taking care of my own clients. Thank God for Great people! I LOVE my Team!!! They are a colorful and kind bunch, and they really care about the people they serve. A good moral compass is the main ingredient I look for in an Agent. If people have that, the rest just falls into place.

I must say that the Agents in Myrtle Beach are typically very nice and accommodating and easy to work with. It's a good, supportive environment and I have a lot of friends, so it's always easy to get things done.

I was guessing about Harrellson, but I see from his website they have 21 agents.

Condolux has never had a large number of agents. In the old building they didn't have enough office space to have many. I'm not sure how many Condo-World has, but I don't think they've ever had more than 8 or 10 if that many.

In the old days, neither of them sold residential stuff...they were strictly oceanfront condos and vacation houses. Of course now they are having to expand some.

Back when New Resorts was going full throttle, I think they got up to 15 or 18 at one time, but that was a mess...:-) Too many sales people in any "store" just ends up causing problems.

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