Where do people in Dallas go for weekend getaways? (Austin: transplants, rental)

[vacationbiz]

I am thinking of opening a vacation rental company near Dallas? I am trying to determine where might be a good location. Where do people in Dallas go to getaway for the weekend that is not more than a couple of hours drive away? It needs to be an area that has plenty of second homes for us to rent out to vacationers when the homeowners aren't using them. I have someone that lives in Arlington that wants to open the branch of my business in Texas. I live in Georgia so I'm not at all familiar with the area. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[LastDallasNative]

This business model does not sound right for Texas for some reason. Many places for North Texans to visit are hours and hours and hours away. Most homeowners in Texas use their houses 365 days a year. Most people in Dallas are transplants, and they go home to the East or West Coast when they can.

[vacationbiz]

Thanks for the feedback. I was afraid of that. I think a better location for this type of business would be Texas Hill Country which I believe attracts alot of vacationers. I appreciate your input.

[jhami3]

Originally Posted by LastDallasNative

This business model does not sound right for Texas for some reason. Many places for North Texans to visit are hours and hours and hours away. Most homeowners in Texas use their houses 365 days a year. Most people in Dallas are transplants, and they go home to the East or West Coast when they can.

Most people are transplants???? What do you think this is, Phoenix??? I've lived here all my life and this couldn't be farther from the truth.

It is true, however, that there's not alot of places in North Texas where people are likely to drive to for recreation. There have been some efforts to get people to travel out to places in East Texas (e.g. Tyler, Longview, and the lakes out in that direction), but I wouldn't say its very common or popular. Maybe a place like Glen Rose or Mineral Wells might be worth looking into, but I don't know...

Hill Country in the central part of the state (around Austin) sounds more like what you are describing, but I'd think you would be pretty late, many of the charming small towns and lakes in the area are already fairly well staked out and 'developed'.

Dallas just isn't that kind of city, for some weird reason (that has nothing to do with people flying back to the East and West coast - I don't know how in world someone could think that, people in this city are VERY proud of being from this city).

[DFWMike]

I'd have to agree, there are a lot of transplants here, obviously, you don't get 2 million people in 20 years without some of them being from up north. But from what I see, most people in Dallas choose the hill country, arkansas, or New Mexico.

But of course you're not asking about Dallas, you're asking about where we go. Hill Country is probably number one, I personally like to go to Arkansas and many people travel to New Mexico. Those are all fairly common trips, just a thought but there is an untapped market around the lake sardis region of Oklahoma(2 1/2 hours from Plano), beautiful area, not many accomodations, course there is not much in the way of restaraunts etc. but great for quiet get aways I would think.