Month: September 2017

The CBRE Hotel Horizons Reports are linked below.

National: http://67.225.147.149/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/CBRE-Hotel-Horizons_US-Report_Sept-2017-1.pdf

Norfolk- Virginia Beach: http://67.225.147.149/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/CBRE-Hotel-Horizons_VB-Report_Sept-2017.pdf

Analysis: http://67.225.147.149/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/CBRE-Hotel-Horizons-Summary_Sept-2017-2.docx

 

 

The MarComm team recently went to Ocean City for a product gap analysis. Here are some of the findings and some photos from the trip!

(Click link for photos)

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_ezDVjqVLXDUDR5OTFaSVZrMkk?usp=sharing

OCEAN CITY RESEARCH TRIP

9/15/17

INITIAL PERCEPTIONS:

• Cheesy, big-box retailers/ chain restaurants; Middle- America
• Nasty water, rickety boardwalk; Long Island-ish dirty beach; Crowded/ cramped; Bike Week= not always “family friendly”; “Fall back vacation destination”
• Culture? Vibe?! No real sense of place; No signature cuisine or cultural scene
• Carnival/ tacky; Pretzel stands, Putt-putt golf
• Jersey Shore-ish
• Not a year-round destination

PRODUCT OFFERINGS:

• Culinary & Craft Beer
  • Local craft beer scene— 4 Legitimate local craft breweries, including a trendy looking brewery in Berlin “historic district”
  • Abundance of outdoor seating at restaurants and bars (including rooftop bars, elevated dining patios, etc.)
• Activities/ Entertainment/ Nightlife/ Programming
  • Casinos: Ocean Downs Casino
  • Biker-friendly: bike week happening at OC this weekend
  • OC beach dance parties on Tuesdays summer peak summer season
  • 100 nights of lights- during summer season boardwalk lights with free ice cream
  • Motorized scooter rentals
  • Events/ Programming appears to end after Labor Day, essentially just a summer destination
    • For Virginia Beach, strong fall programming will be a way to distinguish our destination from OC as a true year-round destination; i.e. extend fireworks, movies on the beach in Oct/ Nov. etc.
  • Outdoors:
    • At “ocean city expressway” entrance/ exit there’s a small park with boat launch
    • Tennis center right at entrance/ arrival into OC oceanfront
    • Chartered fishing is easily accessible and abundant; Several boat tours departed from Marina area
    • Not very bike-friendly (no visible bicycle lanes, roadways are traffic-heavy)
  • Universities/ colleges
    • No major colleges/ universities located within OC boundaries to provide young energy/ “creative capital”
  • Shopping
    • Outlet stores near Ocean City
    • 16 Sunstation stores in OC; Boardwalk area is lined with repetitive touristy type shops (t-shirts, beach towels, souvenirs, etc.)
    • Boutiques—some boutique shops, but primarily located off of boardwalk area, closer to the bay side of OC
  • Convention Center/ M&C
    • Convention Center location–Waterfront/ Bayfront location, two streets back from the oceanfront
      • Directly adjoined to the performing arts center
      • No headquarter hotel, but within a block or two of larger hotels; Walkable to lodging and dining
    • Visitor Information Center
      • Combined with the regional Chamber of Commerce office, including a small onsite “conference”/ meeting space; very traditional setup

OBSERVATIONS:

• Travel/ Commute:
  • Ease of travel; Hassle-free trip/ drive (heading north via Eastern Shore/ CBBT)…until you hit road work and come to a standstill on back country roads.
  • Roadway—currently widening main highway into Ocean City
  • Location:
    • DC: 112 miles (3 Hours)
    • Baltimore: 103 miles (3 Hours)
    • Annapolis: 120 miles(2.5 Hours)
    • Philadelphia: 152 miles (approx. 3 Hours)
  • Sense of Arrival/ Placemaking:
    • Feels like OBX (road into ocean city) -charming; lush, tree-lined streets; lots of quaint beach cottages intermixed with shops and hotels “the north end and Atlantic Ave.
    • Inlet district= Downtown Ocean City; historic “Main Street” community with original looking beach cottages, fair/ carnival park, etc.; District area includes a dedicated bike/ bus lane at oceanfront
    • Tree-lined streets, well maintained building facades
      • For VB, consider increasing tree coverage along streets, wrap them in lights; Perhaps string bistro lights across Atlantic ave. (i.e. Larimer street in Denver)
    • Beach/ Oceanfront
      • Boardwalk area: less hotels, more of an entertainment district; open air permanent stage set up; lots of access to public restrooms/ easy to find….. experience feels redundant after a couple of blocks (i.e. Candy kitchen, thrashers fries, fractured prune donuts, etc.); not a lot of bars/ sit down restaurants on boardwalk itself (they’re off of the beach, closer to Bay Area)
      • Further north of boardwalk Beach— Long Beach but very narrow and half of the beach is blocked off by protected sand dune area; Feels cramped/ crowded
      • Traffic-flow—  OC employs one way traffic patterns, 1-15th street
    • Advocacy/ Community Support:
      • Community seems to embrace and support tourism and happenings/ events/ groups (i.e. Hotels, restaurants, shops had welcome messages to the biker groups for bike week)
      • There doesn’t seem to be a substantial year-round population or much industry outside of tourism so business owners and community appears to rely tourism

VISITOR CONVERSATIONS:

• Young family from Lancaster, PA— typically they visit Bethany Beach (less crowded, more kid-friendly than OC, you can drive on the beach, etc.)
• Adults there for Bike Week- VB more family friendly, bars in OC removed from hotels
• Boardwalk business owner—indicated that the OC businesses were struggling this summer; the days you would think would be booming (i.e. July 4th, Memorial Day, etc.) turned out to be quite slow, and then they’d see random spikes in traffic and visitation
• Wait Staff from lunch – doesn’t even live there, comes in from Baltimore, says strip shuts down in October