WINCHESTER – Hotel stays in the Winchester area have returned to pre-pandemic levels.

This is after Winchester-Frederick County Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Justin Kerns, who said Thursday the June number of local accommodations matched June 2019 numbers, before the COVID-19 pandemic crippled the country’s hospitality industry.

“Travel comes back all of a sudden,” Kerns said. “Most of our numbers show we’re pretty much back.”

Rebecca Taylor, director of hotel sales for the Aikens group in Winchester, agreed. She said the hotels she represents – Hilton Garden Inn in Winchester and Martinsburg, West Virginia; Hampton Inn and Conference Center in Winchester; Hampton Inn in Front Royal and Inwood, West Virginia; Townplace Suites in the Front Royal; and Comfort Inn in Martinsburg – book large room allotments for conferences, events and weddings again.

“Our hotels can block up to half of their rooms,” she said. “Lately we’ve seen them fill up completely, especially for the fall. From August to November we sold half of our hotel rooms for every weekend, which is pretty great. “

Additionally, Taylor said that about 30% of her hotel’s guests in recent weekends have been walk-ins – people who showed up without reserving a room beforehand. That’s a clear indication that the pandemic has subsided enough that Americans want to travel again.

“Every guest we speak to is on vacation, they’re traveling,” said Taylor. “People feel much better and want to get out again.”

Renee Bayliss, visitor and community relations specialist for the Winchester-Frederick County Convention and Visitors Bureau at 1400 S. Pleasant Valley Road, said she recently heard of a coach tour group who needed to know where to park in downtown. This was the first such group to reach out to her in over a year.

Throughout the pandemic, which began in March 2020, the Winchester area fared better than most other places because of its rural location, Kerns said. People who live in nearby metropolitan areas like Washington, DC and Baltimore saw the Northern Shenandoah Valley as a safe haven from which to escape.

“We got it as bad as anyone else in April 2020 when everyone was slammed everywhere,” Kerns said, speaking of the pandemic’s first full month when health concerns and travel restrictions kept most people at home. “As soon as June and July set in, people started moving again but wanted to get away from the big city markets. Fortunately, we are an hour and a half away from millions of people. “

According to Kerns, the key to continued success is marketing. That’s why the Convention and Visitors Bureau is running an “Uncommon to the Core” campaign with ads targeting metropolitan residents near the northern Shenandoah Valley.

“It’s very important for us to make sure we stay in the market so Winchester can stay on the list of places people go,” said Kerns.

Taylor said a full recovery of the local hospitality industry may take a while as many Americans are still too concerned about their health to travel, but things are definitely moving in the right direction.

“The majority of the population is ready to get out,” she said.

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