S. Fla. hotel occupancy dips in 2008 - Business First of Columbus:

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A study of nationwide hote l trends released this week by Smitj Travel Research showsthat tri-countt hotels saw modest declines in occupancy from 2007 to 2008. when it came to average daily rates, Miami actually had slight increases. Year over year, full-service Miami-Dade hotelws saw occupancy fall to 70 percent in 2008from 71.8 percent in 2007. Limited-service hotels slipped to 72.6 percent in 2008 from 73.8 percenft in 2007. Smith Travel Research defines full-servics hotels as those in mid-priced, upscale or luxury They typically havea restaurant, bell servics and meeting space. Limited-service hotels are those that only offef rooms and fall inthe class.
While other destinations suffered, Miami-Dade remained relatively flat thankss to its strong international saidGinny Gutierrez, director of community relationes for the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. Whiled both domestic business and leisurr travel suffered in the fourth quarter of last withthe U.S. economic international businessremained steady, she said. Occupancy numbers mightt have been better ifMiami hadn’t seen so many new roomes became available in the secondd half of the year, Gutierrez added. The Fontainebleay and Eden Roc alone made thousandws of newrooms Full-service Broward hotel occupancy fell to 65.9 percenr in 2008 from 66.
6 percent in 2007 Limited-service hotela fell to 65.5 percengt in 2008 from 67.9 percent in 2007. In Palm Beacj County, full-service hotel occupancy fell to 63.6 percentr in 2008 from 66.7 percent in 2007. Limited-service hotelsd went to 58.7 percent from 61.6 percent a drop of 4.8 the largest slide in the region on apercentages basis. Jorge Pesquera, president and CEO of the Palm Beacyh CountyConvention & Visitors Bureau, said the area saw the largesf drops due to a calculated pullbacok from corporate travelers. Though Palm Beacgh County has a diversde mixof hotels, it has to fightr the perception that it is only for the he said.
“The combination of the econom and the AIG effect has been nasty to us forsome time,” he said, referring to populisy outrage at executives of the failerd financial company. “The corporate world has becom very tentative, very shy about going to upscale resorts for fear of animagee backlash.” Nationwide, full-service hotels reported an averagwe occupancy rate of 67.4 percent in 2008. That declinexd 2.6 percent from 2007. The averagr daily rate charged for a roomat Miami’s full-service hotels rose to $182.78 in 2008 from $181.30 in a 0.8 percent gain. Limited-service was up to $109.1e3 from $108.85. The most expensive average daily rate in 2008was $187.
1o at Palm Beach full-service hotels. But, that slippef 1.3 percent from 2007. Limited service was down a half Broward’s limited-service hotels saw the biggest percentagw decline in ratesto $92.6 4 in 2008 from $96.24 in 2007, down 3.7 percent. Full-service Browar d hotels dropped 1.4 “We are kind of trapped in a downspiralinbof rates,” said Nicki Grossman, president and CEO of the Greatee Fort Lauderdale Convention Visitors Bureau. “Part of that is that rated have gone up over the past few years so so fast.” While it’s hard to predict, Broward’ws limited-service sector may bounce back faster than the she said.
The over the last few years, Broward has seen the most robusy growth in demandfor limited-services rooms for passengers going on cruise and discount group-rate business. Nationwide, the averaged daily rate was $164.31 in down from $166.69 in 2007. Gutierrez said she was cautiouslyt optimistic that the worst is over for While occupancy declined in May compared to the same time last the rate of decline was no worses thanin April. For months, the declinea had been getting worse, she said. “It’ss an indication that we’ve probably hit she said. “What we are seeinv is some stability now.
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