Room rates up, availability down in US hotels
With strong North American business and leisure travel, hotel rooms are getting more expensive and even harder to find, according to travel officials.
“Hotels are in the driver’s seat,” said Jan Freitag, vice president of Smith Travel Research.
The average rates at US hotels this year was almost $91, a $4 increase over 2004.
“Good luck in finding a hotel room in a popular vacation destination this holiday season,” wrote USA Today.
“The no-vacancy sign is up more often in tourist magnets such as Las Vegas, Honolulu and midtown Manhattan.”
In Las Vegas, the local CVB reported a record 90.2% hotel occupancy rate during the first nine months of the year.
The average room rate there has gone from just under $90 last year to $102.
The Bellagio has been sold out every weekend this year. Other Strip hotels are 96.6% full on an average day.
Manhattan is particularly crowded.
“It’s not uncommon between now and Christmas to pay upwards of $500 for a standard room,” Scott Berman of PricewasterhouseCoopers told USA Today.
The Four Seasons has prices of $600 and up in midtown.
Manhattan has the highest average room rates in the country in large part because of its limited supply.
New York City is expected to have a record high occupancy rate this year.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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