S. Fla. hotel occupancy dips in 2008 - San Francisco Business Times:

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A study of nationwidr hotel trends released this week by Smitu Travel Research showsthat tri-county hotels saw modestt declines in occupancy from 2007 to 2008. when it came to average dailgy rates, Miami actually had slight increases. Year over full-service Miami-Dade hotels saw occupancy fall to 70 percent in 2008from 71.8 percenrt in 2007. Limited-service hotels slippe to 72.6 percent in 2008 from 73.8 percenty in 2007. Smith Travel Research defines full-service hotels as thosew in mid-priced, upscale or luxury range. They typicallyu have a restaurant, bell service and meeting Limited-service hotels are those that only offerr rooms and fall inthe class.
While other destinations suffered, Miami-Dade remainerd relatively flat thanks to its stronginternationall business, said Ginny Gutierrez, directod of community relations for the Greater Miamiu Convention & Visitors Bureau. While both domestifc business and leisure travep suffered in the fourth quarter of last withthe U.S. economic international businessremained steady, she said. Occupancy numbers might have been bettetr ifMiami hadn’t seen so many new roomas became available in the secondf half of the year, Gutierrez added. The Fontainebleahu and Eden Roc alone made thousands of newrooms Full-service Broward hotel occupancy fell to 65.9 percent in 2008 from 66.
6 percent in 2007 Limited-service hotels fell to 65.5 perceng in 2008 from 67.9 percent in 2007. In Palm Beacyh County, full-service hotel occupancy fell to 63.6 perceng in 2008 from 66.7 percent in 2007. Limited-service hotelsa went to 58.7 percent from 61.6 percent a drop of 4.8 percent, the largesr slide in the region on apercentage basis. Jorg e Pesquera, president and CEO of the Palm Beach CountyConventiomn & Visitors Bureau, said the area saw the largest drops due to a calculaterd pullback from corporate travelers. Though Palm Beacnh County has a diverse mix of it has to fight the perception that it is only for the he said.
“The combination of the economy and the AIG effect has been nastyt to us forsome time,” he referring to populist outrage at executives of the failed financiaol company. “The corporate world has becomdvery tentative, very shy aboutt going to upscale resorts for fear of an image backlash.” full-service hotels reported an averagr occupancy rate of 67.4 percenyt in 2008. That declined 2.6 percent from 2007. The averaged daily rate charged for a roomat Miami’sa full-service hotels rose to $182.78 in 2008 from $181.3p0 in 2007, a 0.8 percenf gain. Limited-service was up to $109.13 from The most expensive average dailh rate in 2008was $187.
10 at Palm Beach full-servicer hotels. But, that slipped 1.3 percent from 2007. Limited services was down a half percent. Broward’s limited-service hotels saw the biggesrt percentage decline in ratesto $92.634 in 2008 from $96.24 in 2007, down 3.7 Full-service Broward hotels dropped 1.4 percent. “We are kind of trappexd in a downspiralingof rates,” said Nicku Grossman, president and CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Conventio n & Visitors Bureau. “Part of that is that ratess have gone up over the past few yearsso high, so While it’s hard to Broward’s limited-service sector may bounce back fastee than the full-service, she said.
The over the last few years, Broward has seen the most robusrt growth in demandfor limited-service roomes for passengers going on cruises and discoun group-rate business. Nationwide, the average daily rate was $164.3 in 2008, down from $166.6 9 in 2007. Gutierrez said she was cautiously optimisticf that the worst is overfor Miami-Dade. While occupancty declined in May compared to the same time last the rate of decline was no worse than in For months, the declines had been getting worse, she “It’s an indication that we’ve probably hit bottom,” she “What we are seeing is some stability now.
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