Cambridge Beaches Resort & Spa exceeded its revenue and occupancy goals during the first quarter of the year, and is expecting an even better second quarter.

However, as booking season heats up, the Sandys resort is taking a watchful approach to how a tense political situation in the United States shapes summer business.

“We are keeping a close eye on the cost of doing business,” said Alexis Roberts, head of sales and marketing at Cambridge Beaches.

“This is particularly in terms of food and beverage expenses — as these are likely to be the first areas impacted by broader economic pressures.”

As yet, the resort has seen no direct impact on bookings from the American focus on trade policy.

“Our guests tend to be high-net-worth individuals, a demographic that has not curtailed travel in the way we are seeing in more cost-sensitive markets,” Ms Roberts said.

So far, staff at the hotel are optimistic about the summer season.

Ms Roberts felt that its positive sales figures in Q1 were largely because of market compression, as several key hotel properties have had rooms offline owing to renovations.

“With fewer rooms available, we have benefited from the increased demand,” she said.

However, the hotel is seeing a much shorter booking window.

“We typically see bookings come in 60 to 90 days out,” Ms Roberts said. “We are now receiving many bookings within just 30 days.”

She thought this shift spoke to the cautious, last-minute nature of today’s traveller, particularly in the American market, which represents 75 per cent of Cambridge Beaches’ guests.

“July and August are still pacing slower than other months, but this is not unusual for us, and typically picks up closer to the travel dates,” Ms Roberts said.

They are seeing modest growth in the number of Canadian visitors staying at their hotel. There have been reports that many Canadians are crossing the United States off their travel list owing to the recent deterioration in relations between the US and Canada.

Cambridge Beaches is now actively engaging with Canadians, by collaborating with the Bermuda Tourism Authority, BermudAir, and Canadian tour operators on promotional programmes.

“While most Canadians tend to travel in the winter, we are encouraged by early indicators and expect to see continued growth from this segment over time,” Ms Roberts said.

Andre Roberts, general manager of The Loren, said the Smith’s resort was expecting a good summer.

“Last year, we saw a solid season, and we hope this summer will be even better,” Mr Roberts said. “It is shaping up that way, but there is a lot of uncertainty with everything happening in the world.”

The Loren still has availability for June and July.

“We are just getting to the booking window now,” Mr Roberts said.

D.J. Simons, owner of boat touring business Bermudaful Charters, was crossing his fingers that the weather co-operated.

As a small-business operator, he was hit hard by record amounts of rainfall in the summer of 2023. Last year was better, but slowed down in the middle of August, because of the weather.

“Right now is booking season,” Mr Simons said. “We get a lot of inquiries from people trying to plan their vacations. June and July are starting to get full already.”

Robin Trimingham, of Bermuda Heritage Tours, also saw good first-quarter results.

“If that is anything to go by, then it is going to be a good year for our little company, and we hope all of tourism in Bermuda,” Ms Trimingham said.

“Being a boutique tour company that operates year round, we have been fortunate to have bookings from hotel guests staying at just about every hotel on the island. We are starting to see bookings from cruise ship visitors on a regular basis.”

While most of her clients are American, she continues to see Canadians and British visitors also.

“Because we have always specialised in excursions to the East End of the island, we are uniquely positioned to showcase the Town of St George and the surrounding United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation world heritage sites to their best advantage,” she said. “We are happy to report that there is still a strong demand from visitors to see these places.”

Dexter Swan, of Social Cycles, who runs electric bicycle tours, said their Canadian business has been elevated all winter.

“Last month, would have been the start of the actual season, but from December to March we have had a lot of Canadian visitors do bike rentals from us,” Mr Swan said. “That is normally not the case.”

Daley Furbert, co-owner of Pedego, which also offers electric bicycle tours, was mostly booked for the summer season, with events, such as the Convex End to End on May 3, sold out.

“We also have numerous corporate bookings and prebooked traveller reservations throughout the summer,” she said. “Our website receives a high volume of traffic, with several thousand clicks from potential visitors seeking transportation options in Bermuda.”