When hotels started reopening in early summer after being closed for several months due to COVID-19, many rural properties noticed an immediate uptick in bookings. As the summer continued, these hotels were able to implement longer-term stay restrictions with the ability to continuously increase rates due to strong demand.
In fact, at least two of the properties I work with are having the best September in their histories, with significant growth in year-over-year topline performance. So, what is behind the strong demand in the countryside versus urban hotels?
Logically, it is easy to understand that after months of being confined to homes and apartments people would want to go outside and be in nature, but for many Americans, this desire has been programmed into our culture for over a century. America’s obsession with getting back-to-nature began as early as the 1880s with the idea of creating a pastoral landscape for relaxation and rejuvenation.
