Friday, May 14, 2010

An Empty Room in Rocky Point?

-by El Gitano Peñasco, "The Peñasco Gypsy"

I read this week that in Puerto Peñasco there are supposedly 2000 motel-type rooms (and maybe that includes condo rentals, too?), so for conversational purposes I’ll accept that number and bet anyone a ‘cold-one’, a good tequila back and a couple fish tacos that during (at least) the middle of most weeks, those 2,000 rooms sit bare-bone empty for at least 3 nights!

May not seem like a big deal (unless you own one of those motels) but that equates into 6,000 rental nights per week, and even at a modest nightly rate (e.g.) of $50.00USD that equates into $300,000 dollars in potential weekly revenue just pleading to be earned!

On an annual basis, when you eliminate certain events like ‘Spring Break’, ‘Bikers Week’ etc., you still may likely have 30-40 weeks each year when those rooms are sitting empty. Using the ‘average’ (35 weeks), that equals 210,000 rental nights representing a rental value (at that $50 per night example) of $10,500,000USD!

Not a bad pot of frijoles if I do say so myself, but being the realistic people that everyone here is, the likelihood of renting out 100% of the inventory 100% of the time is akin to me having ever recommended to anyone that the old MOAB (“Mother of all burgers”) built by Larry Large was not only a great deal but delicious as well. And that, too, never happened!

Last year I wrote about this subject and was thinking that with what I believe to be the somewhat racist mindsets rearing their ugly heads in AZ it would be a hoot to run a big ad in the San Diego or L.A. newspaper travel section and offer something like this:

‘This week’s exclusive offer... California (only) residents… Everyone Welcomed… Deeply Discounted and Free accommodations in Puerto Peñasco… Visit our website for details… Drive-to is a snap! Click on our user friendly map on how to enter Mexico from California and save time and money… Visit California’s newest beach today…

You think? ;)

¡Viva México y Puerto Peñasco!

elgitanopenasco@gmail.com
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. -Mark Twain