Wii Bowling on Mondays. Tacos and bingo on Wednesdays. Cocktails daily at sundown.
Who says there aren't things to do on the Grand Strand in the winter?
That's only a few of a list of activities for a group of snowbirds who escape the northern cold each year by spending a few months along the Grand Strand.
"Old people say I don't know what I'm going to do when I'm retired," Marie Cavanaugh said before listing some of her activities during her four-month stay at the BlueWater Resort in Myrtle Beach.
"You have to catch up on the soaps and go swimming."
The sand and surf don't hold the same sway over crowds of tourists in the winter, but loyal snowbirds such as Cavanaugh provide reliable business that keeps many hotels open through the slow season.
Hotels may only get 20 to 30 percent full, but that's enough to keep them open, said Taylor Damonte, director of the Clay Brittain Jr. Center for Resort Tourism at Coastal Carolina University.
"We're still a favorite spot for long-term rentals this time of year," he said. "Even last year when we were still in the throws of the Great Recession, we were still seeing growth in demand for vacation rentals in the winter."
Many of those who stay at the Blue Water, 2001 S. Ocean Blvd., have been coming for years or decades.
Cavanaugh first vacationed at the BlueWater after Hurricane Hugo in 1989 with a group of about a dozen friends from Scranton, Pa. She's the only one from that group who still comes, she said.
Those who don't come have been replaced by friends she's made at the hotel.
"It's a great place," she said. "A family away from home."
Although some like Cavanaugh are already here, most snowbirds are expected to arrive in early January, once the holidays have passed, said Rebecca Donevant, general manager at the BlueWater.
Snowbird season continues until Valentine's Day or later, depending on the property, when room rates begin to go up, Damonte said.
The snowbirds have proved to be a reliable source of business, said Ross Haseltine, general manager at Myrtle Beach Resort Vacations, 5905 S. Kings Highway. Many guests stay loyal to the resort because they're comfortable there and even rent out the same unit every year, Haseltine said.
Snowbirds have long been what keep hotels and condohotels open throughout the winter, said Phil Pate, president of Grand Strand Resorts at Barefoot Resort.
"You really don't make no money on snowbirds, it's just cash flow," Pate said.
Snowbirds will pay $1,200 to $1,400 a month for a unit that might rent for $2,000 a week in the summer, Pate said.
It provides just enough to cover costs, he said.
The number of snowbirds coming here hasn't changed because of the economy, Pate said.
"[Snowbirds] are all basically semi-retired or retired so they're not like the summer people," Pate said. "I'm not saying [the economy] didn't hurt them, but maybe it didn't hurt them as much."
Occupancy at Grand Strand Resorts is expected to be up 6 to 8 percent from January through March compared to last year, based on the number of reservations so far, Pate said.
The BlueWater and Myrtle Beach Resort expect to be about the same as last year, Donevant and Haseltine said.
The entire lodging industry is expected to be down 2 to 3 percentage points compared to 2009 through mid-January, Damonte said, but he has no predictions for what will happen after that.
As long as hotels and other rentals can fill more than 20 percent of their rooms with snowbirds, they'll remain essential to the winter tourism industry, he said
"We would see many more properties simply closing for the month of January and at least part of February without this long-haul, extended-stay market," Damonte said.
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