JERSEY SHORE – The summer season is a distant memory and we are well into autumn, but rental season is not that far away and there are holiday renters who may wish to take advantage of the peace, quiet and atmosphere of the shore area.
Duane Watlington, founder of Vacation Rentals Jersey Shore LLC, who has rental sites in Long Beach Island, Ocean City and the Wildwoods, provided Jersey Shore Online with his thoughts concerning the success of summer 2024 and what is ahead for 2025.
“Everything booked up. A lot of last minute booking every week into the summer. Mostly full weeks into September but then we got some weekends, and they were strong through October. There is always inventory in September and October to book a visit at someone’s home,” he added.
Watlington added, “both of my personal rentals were booked for Thanksgiving and I anticipate someone will book them for Christmas and New Year’s. Prices have stabilized. No one has increased rates and some homeowners have even reduced their rates because of the economic situation that we are in.”
“We had what I call a very strong early booking season,” Watlington said. “The months of July, August and September were very busy with people booking for next year already.”
“Your hard core Jersey shore renters who come back year after year usually book next year before they go home. You’ll see people in July booking for July of next year and those in August booking for August next year,” he added.
“Things slow down in the fall a little bit and then the day after Christmas, when everybody gets together over the holidays they get to talking about ‘hey let’s all go to the shore this summer,’” he added.
Watlington noted that “January, February going into March, is really the busy booking season when most people will book their rental at the beach. Then we get the last-minute planners who can’t book because they have kids and they don’t know if they are going to make the sports team and what are the camp schedules like, so they usually don’t know that information until June so believe it or not June and July are also very busy.”
Photo courtesy Vacation Rentals Jersey Shore LLC
“June and July can also be very last-minute booking months for us. Tax returns, too. When people file their taxes and they get their tax return money, that tends to be money they use for vacation,” he added.
Watlington mentioned that “it seems our traveling group from New York is traveling further south. We always had a lot of New Yorkers go to the LBI region and now we saw a good portion vacation in Ocean City too.”
“I think that might be looking for value. Ocean City is a very nice vacation rental destination. They are a little less expensive to get a rental there then LBI,” Watlington added. “Some people are searching a little south a little bit just to find that better value.”
He also noted, “LBI was a challenging year as far as not everything booked up right away but it booked up – it just took until the very end.”
“The Jersey Shore is beautiful. It is amazing here in the summer and year round and my advice to anyone wanting to do a vacation close to home at the Jersey shore is to book early. Start your search now. Now you have the greatest selection and the best value by booking early. All the good rentals get booked up first,” he added.
He went on to say, “best locations, best weeks and amenities and right now you have the best selection of all of that. The later you wait the less choices you will have.”
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