Revenue growth at Lindblad Expeditions in the first quarter of 2018 saw a 12 percent increase in net yield to $1,127 per night, with occupancy also moving up from 87 to 91 percent during the quarter.
“Well, here’s our view on pricing. First of all, we believe that the biggest opportunity is adding inventory, broadening our offering,” said Sven Lindblad, founder and CEO, on the company’s first quarter earnings call.
“If you get too aggressive with pricing, it can be problematic in one form or another. First of all, we’re at the highest level of pricing in the industry,” he continued. “And if we get too much higher, it just creates too much opportunity for others to make an issue of that, if you will, so our play is really on broadening our offerings. We think that’s where the best opportunity, by far, exists.
“And we want to be very, very careful because at a certain juncture, you can reach a wall of sorts with pricing and you regret it, you just get too — I’m not going to use the word “greedy,” but there’s a line there, I — and we don’t wish to cross it.”
Looking ahead to the rest of 2018, CFO Craig Felenstein said the company expects to continue its significant growth pattern, with more capacity and higher pricing. He said Lindblad bookings were pacing ahead of last year by $34 million, and projected ticket revenues were at 94 percent of full-year projections.
