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A month before Passover, Ricky Schechter's program at the Wyndham Princeton Forrestral Hotel is only 80 percent full for the second straight year. For three decades of Passovers before 2009, Schechter never had empty rooms.

Such is the plight of kosher-for-Passover hotel programs during the ongoing recession, with more Jewish families holding their sedarim at home. However, organizers like Schechter say there is a solution to tough economic times: maintaining the same customers from year to year, rather than relying on being able to recruit new ones.

Jerry Abramson, owner of Cherry Hill-based Matza Fun Tours, said he isn't taking any "shortcuts" with his program at the Ocean Place Resort in Long Branch -- currently about 75 percent full -- to ensure that the company maintains its past clients when the economy turns around. In this highly competitive industry, Passover programs are branded products, Abramson explained.

"If I served you rack of veal last year, I'm serving you rack of veal this year," Abramson said.

Schechter's program in Princeton, called Schechter and Gross Passover at the Wyndham, costs $2,795 per person for the entire holiday. Lowering the price isn't a realistic solution for filling empty rooms, Schechter said.

"I have a loyal clientele, so I can't really discount my rate too much for new people if my loyal people are paying the rate," Schechter said.

Matza Fun Tours, however, does negotiate discounts with its clients for Passover, Abramson said. This year's program in Long Branch costs $2,699 per person in a double-occupancy room, he said. That rate, unlike the case in previous years, hasn't increased from last Passover.

At this time last year, Matza Fun had also filled 75 percent of its rooms at Ocean Place, and business then picked up during the last three or four weeks leading up to Passover, Abramson said. But before 2009, Matza Fun was usually able to fill all its rooms by Purim, he said.

Kosherica Enterprises' Passover program at The Biltmore Hotel in Miami -- which costs $8,700 per room for two people and $15,000 for a suite of up to four people -- is sold out this year, said Yehuda Schifman, the executive director.

The company's kosher cruise business also hasn't suffered during the recession, Schifman said, noting that Kosherica ran its largest cruise ever with 850 people going to the Caribbean in January. Schifman also stressed the importance of a loyal customer base, explaining that by chol hamoed (the middle days of Passover) last year he had already booked customers to fill half of The Biltmore for 2010. Due to that interest, Kosherica, whose program took up half of the hotel in 2009, reserved the entire facility for this Passover, he said.

Passover "is the time of year for grandpa," Abramson said, and grandpa will often take his kids and grandkids away for the holiday regardless of economic conditions. That's because Passover is one of the only chances to have a meal with 20-30 family members at the same table, since Jewish schools aren't in session, Abramson said. Often at Matza Fun programs, the patriarch or matriarch of a family pays for the whole group, he said.

Schifman said the Passover operators who were forced to cancel their programs because of the economy were the ones who offered cheaper rooms, all while his program at a luxury hotel -- one where Bill Clinton stays when he visits Miami -- is thriving.

"It looks like the people who cannot afford the more expensive [programs] probably don't go [away for Passover] altogether this year," Schifman said.