Eight hundred thousand airline seats vanished overnight and surviving carriers are jacking fares 5-15% for summer. If you're a drive-to leisure property still running last month's rate strategy, you're leaving money on a table that's about to get very crowded.
A 300-mile round trip now costs $47 in fuel, up roughly $13 from last summer, and it lands on a consumer who's already cutting back on everything discretionary. If you're running a drive-to leisure property and haven't stress-tested your summer pace against this squeeze, you're planning with last year's guest.
Michigan sentiment cratered to 55.5 this month... its lowest print of 2026... and if you're a revenue manager at a drive-to leisure property still holding rate based on last year's comps, you're about to learn an expensive lesson about the difference between confidence and data.
A 25-cent gas price spike sounds like a macro story until you're the GM watching your weekend pickup soften in real time while your own shuttle fuel bill climbs. Here's what 40 years of managing through these cycles tells me about what happens next.
