Demand for rentals in the area has also been growing at a rapid pace, yet it has not fully caught up to cabin inventory growth. Current active booked nights have increased by ~80% since the start of 2021, which is incredible. We are seeing an absolute tidal wave of new demand coming into the area and we expect demand to continue to rise with the new Casino (Choctaw Landing) coming in and increased commercial development. People typically refer to the Covid surge as “peak demand” but as you can see from the numbers, demand is stronger now than during Covid.
One-bedroom cabins continue to have the highest percentage of occupancy, with 2 bedroom cabins coming in at the second highest. Despite lower occupancy, the 3-5+ bedroom cabins generate significantly more revenue than the smaller properties. The average monthly revenue is still very strong. The highest variance is in the larger cabin category. We are seeing large cabins perform exceptionally well compared to historical comps.
Broken Bow has always been a strong “year-round” rental market. We continue to see this trend moving forward. Historically the months of January and February are the weakest from an occupancy and average daily rate perspective. The active season picks up around spring break and continues strong throughout the end of the year during the holidays. “Peak season” is the summer months of May-August. We are also seeing a trend in “last minute bookings” compared to historical data. In the smaller cabin size category we are seeing a lot more bookings coming in less than 30 days before the rental date. Larger cabins are still seeing a decent amount of lead time to book, especially for the summer months. This makes sense because the larger properties typically have multiple families staying at them, which involves more coordination and planning. 30% of rentals for the summer months are booked months in advance of the stay date. While the overall national real estate market has been subdued because of the rapid rise in interest rates, the Broken Bow / Hochatown rental market is still strong and growing.