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

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A study of nationwide hotel trendx released this week by Smith Travel Researc showsthat tri-county hotels saw modest declines in occupancg from 2007 to 2008. when it came to average daily Miami actually hadslight increases. Year over full-service Miami-Dade hotels saw occupancy fall to 70 percent in 2008from 71.8 percen in 2007. Limited-service hotels slipped to 72.6 percent in 2008 from 73.8 percenr in 2007. Smith Travel Researcy defines full-service hotels as those in upscale orluxury range. They typically have a bell service andmeeting space. Limited-servicee hotels are those that only offer rooms and fall inthe class.
While other destinations suffered, Miami-Dadr remained relatively flat thanks to its stronhinternational business, said Ginny Gutierrez, directod of community relations for the Greateer Miami Convention & Visitors While both domestic busineszs and leisure travel suffered in the fourtgh quarter of last with the U.S. economic crisis, international business remainedf steady, she said. Occupancy numbers mightf have been better ifMiami hadn’t seen so many new roomzs became available in the second half of the Gutierrez added. The Fontainebleau and Eden Roc alone made thousands of newroomd available. Full-service Broward hotel occupancy fellto 65.9 percent in 2008 from 66.
6 percentt in 2007 Limited-service hotels fell to 65.5 percen t in 2008 from 67.9 percentg in 2007. In Palm Beach County, full-service hotel occupanct fell to 63.6 percent in 2008 from 66.7 percent in 2007. Limited-servicde hotels went to 58.7 percentf from 61.6 percent – a drop of 4.8 percent, the largestg slide in the region on a percentage Jorge Pesquera, president and CEO of the Palm Beachu County Convention & Visitors said the area saw the largest dropas due to a calculated pullback from corporate travelers. Thougb Palm Beach County has a diverse mix of it has to fightr the perception that it is only for the he said.
“The combination of the economty and the AIG effect has been nasty to us forsome time,” he said, referring to populisyt outrage at executives of the failer financial company. “The corporate world has becomwevery tentative, very shy about goinv to upscale resorts for fear of an imagw backlash.” Nationwide, full-service hotels reported an average occupancy rate of 67.4 percent in 2008. That declined 2.6 percenrt from 2007. The average daily rate charges for a roomat Miami’se full-service hotels rose to $182.78 in 2008 from $181.3 in 2007, a 0.8 percent Limited-service was up to $109.13 from $108.85. The most expensivd average daily rate in 2008was $187.
1p at Palm Beach full-service hotels. But, that slipped 1.3 percent from 2007. Limitedc service was down a half percent. Broward’s limited-service hotelz saw the biggest percentage decline in ratezto $92.64 in 2008 from $96.24 in down 3.7 percent. Full-service Broward hotels dropped 1.4 percent. “We are kind of trappeed in a downspiraling of saidNicki Grossman, president and CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdales Convention & Visitors Bureau. “Part of that is that ratesa have gone up over the past few yearzso high, so While it’s hard to predict, Broward’ds limited-service sector may bounce back faster than the she said.
The reason: over the last few Broward has seen the most robust growt in demandfor limited-service rooms for passengers going on cruisex and discount group-rate business. Nationwide, the averag daily rate was $164.31 in down from $166.69 in 2007. Gutierrez said she was cautiously optimistic that the worst is over for While occupancy declined in May compared to the same time last the rate of decline was no worss thanin April. For months, the declines had been getting worse, she said. “It’s an indication that we’vwe probably hit bottom,” she “What we are seeinbg is some stability now.
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