Hotel Occupancy Rates in September – A Bit Better Than the Previous Months
Find a Hotel
Browse Hotels by Regions
The past couple of months have been filled with both good and bad news from the hotel industry. The hotels in Italy performed better in August 2009 than the rest of the hotels in Europe but the news from the Americas weren’t that good.
Middle East
On the other hand, hotels in Dubai has seen a 40% increase during Eid, according to this article from ArabianBusiness.com . Compared to the occupancy rates during Ramadan, a week before Eid the hotel bookings started to pick up, taking the occupancy rate up 75 percent. For the winter season, hoteliers expect an occupancy rate of 85-95%.
United States
In United States, the occupancy rates were down in September but the cost of rooms increased. According to this article from The News Tribune , the occupancy rate in Washington State went down by 3.4% in September 2009. But Seattle and Tri-Cities saw increases although small (1.1% and 0.9% respectively). The average room cost saw an increase of 4.6% statewide, reaching $142.99 in September 2009. Tacoma was the only region in the state where the cost of rooms saw an increase of 8.9%.
In Utah, the hotels in Salt Lake County filled 66% of their rooms in September 2009, down from 73% in September last year. Statewide the occupancy rate fell to 60% this year from 66% in September 2008. The average room rate was down $10 a night in Salt Lake City and almost $8 a night statewide.
For the week of 20-26 September 2009, six of the Top 25 travel markets in the States reported an increase in occupancy rates: Norfolk-Virginia Beach (Virginia), Oahu Island (Hawaii), Denver (Colorado), New York (New York), Anaheim-Santa Ana (California) and Orlando (Florida). The occupancy rates in these cities ranged from 48.9% (Orlando) to 79.7% (Oahu Island).
What does it mean for the travelers?
Although some of the markets are starting to see better days, the room prices are still down and the hoteliers still offer travel deals to keep those rooms occupied. In other words, if you still haven’t managed to take a vacation this year, the time before Christmas might just be perfect to find a great bargain. And if you are after a ski vacation, start searching the deals for mid-late January.
