Marketing Insights
2024 has come and gone , and our Marketing team has brought together an update on several key performance metrics for the year — results we are particularly proud to share with you now . We continue to be pleased with the progress we have seen with the new website over the past year , and we ’ re looking forward to reviewing how it performs in Q1 in comparison to the same post-launch timeframe in 2024 .
Performance Metrics Overall website traffic for the year has continued to remain strong throughout 2024 despite the softer vacation rental market we are seeing nationally . The total website visitor count dipped slightly ( 4 %) in 2024 , but the quality of those visitors improved significantly :
• Average engagement time increased by 35 %, reflecting deeper user interaction . Revenue Per Available Room ( RevPAR )
• Views per active user grew by 21 %, showing increased engagement per visitor . We have seen growth in RevPAR in 2024 across the Market . While the annual RevPAR in Whitefish has
grown by 1 % YOY , Natural Retreats was able to increase RevPAR by 4.8 % YOY . We were able to achieve Direct traffic , Organic Search , and Organic Social continue to be the main drivers we are focusing this outperformance by staying nimble with rates based on market demand , increasing Occupancy , and on for guests looking to vacation across our markets . Local tourism board data continues to not leaving money on the table during peak dates . show guests are traveling — and often . That said , we , as well as the local tourism boards , continue to see the growing trend of shorter stays outside of the once-standard 7-night minimum during peak seasons and major holidays . Additionally , requests for “ discounts and deals ” on stays have increased both in online and phone inquiries in relation to the current economic market .
We have continued to focus on targeted marketing efforts throughout 2024 , resulting in significant growth in key digital platforms and emerging platforms . Social media growth and email database growth have continued to be key focuses .
• Our net follower growth increased by 7.1 %, driven by focused efforts across key platforms .
• We maintained a highly competitive engagement rate of 2.7 %, outperforming industry benchmarks .
• Significant creative energy was invested into Instagram , resulting in :
• 432 % growth in engagements on the platform .
• 122 % increase in Instagram ’ s engagement rate , reaching an impressive 6.2 %— well above the industry average of 1.4 %.
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04 NATURAL RETREATS • WHITEFISH • 2024 ANNUAL REVIEW