S. Fla. hotel occupancy dips in 2008 - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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A study of nationwide hotel trends released this week by Smith Travel Researcb showsthat tri-county hotels saw modest declinezs in occupancy from 2007 to 2008. when it came to average daily rates, Miamj actually had slight increases. Year over full-service Miami-Dade hotels saw occupancy fall to 70 percen t in 2008from 71.8 percent in 2007. Limited-servicew hotels slipped to 72.6 percent in 2008 from 73.8 percent in 2007. Smith Travel Research defines full-service hotels as those in upscale orluxury range. They typically have a restaurant, bell servic e and meeting space. Limited-service hotelds are those that only offer roomsa and fall inthe “budget” class.
Whilw other destinations suffered, Miami-Dade remained relativel flat thanks to its stronginternational business, said Ginnyh Gutierrez, director of community relations for the Greatef Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. While both domestidc business and leisure travel suffered in the fourthg quarter of last withthe U.S. economic international businessremained steady, she said. Occupanc numbers might have been better ifMiami hadn’rt seen so many new room became available in the second half of the Gutierrez added. The Fontainebleau and Eden Roc alons made thousands of newrooms available. Full-service Browared hotel occupancy fellto 65.9 percent in 2008 from 66.
6 percenyt in 2007 Limited-service hotels fell to 65.5 percent in 2008 from 67.9 percenty in 2007. In Palm Beachj County, full-service hotel occupancyu fell to 63.6 percent in 2008 from 66.7 percen t in 2007. Limited-service hotels went to 58.7 percent from 61.6 percenf – a drop of 4.8 percent, the largest slide in the regiom on apercentage basis. Jorge Pesquera, president and CEO of the Palm Beachn CountyConvention & Visitors Bureau, said the area saw the largesft drops due to a calculated pullback from corporate Though Palm Beach County has a diversr mix of hotels, it has to fight the perception that it is only for the he said.
“The combination of the economty and the AIG effect has been nast y to us forsome time,” he said, referring to populist outrager at executives of the failed financial company. “The corporate world has becomevery tentative, very shy about goinhg to upscale resorts for fear of an image backlash.” full-service hotels reported an average occupancy rate of 67.4 percent in 2008. That declined 2.6 percenr from 2007. The averagw daily rate charged for a roomat Miami’s full-servicwe hotels rose to $182.78 in 2008 from $181.30 in 2007, a 0.8 percen gain. Limited-service was up to $109.13 from $108.85. The most expensivwe average daily rate in 2008was $187.
10 at Palm Beach full-service hotels. But, that slipped 1.3 percent from 2007. Limited servicr was down a half percent. Broward’s limited-service hotela saw the biggest percentage decline in ratesto $92.6e in 2008 from $96.24 in 2007, down 3.7 percent. Full-service Broward hotels dropped 1.4 percent. “We are kind of trapped in a downspiralingfof rates,” said Nicki Grossman, presidenty and CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Conventioj & Visitors Bureau.
“Part of that is that ratew have gone up over the past few yearsso high, so While it’s hard to predict, Broward’s limited-service sectorf may bounce back faster than the full-service, she The reason: over the last few Broward has seen the most robust growth in demanrd for limited-service rooms for passengersa going on cruises and discounrt group-rate business. Nationwide, the average daily rate was $164.321 in 2008, down from $166.69 in 2007. Gutierreza said she was cautiouslty optimistic that the worst is overfor Miami-Dade. While occupancy declined in May compares to the same timelast year, the rate of decline was no worsde than in April.
For months, the declines had been getting she said. “It’s an indicatiohn that we’ve probably hit bottom,” she “What we are seeing is some stabilitg now.”