Rose City Slowly Absorbing Hotel Room Boom

PORTLAND-After a soft year in the local hotel market caused by five new hotels in the past four years, some positive whispers can be heard. “I’m hearing a lot of good reports about downtown over the last few months,” says Ed Dundon, a local hotel broker who has handled many of the larger hotel transaction in recent years. “Business has really been quite good as it relates to previous year.”

The same can be said for the suburban west side, Dundon tells GlobeSt. “I’m being told that things are better out there than the previous year,” he says. “Rooms are quite tied up during the week; the problem is weekends, there’s a lot of competition for weekend rooms.”

The market is still trying to absorb more than 1,000 new hotel rooms in past 48 months, not to mention numerous renovations. The new supply pushed average annual occupancy rates in downtown Portland from 69.4% in 1999 to 65.7% last year, and pushed daily room rates to $105 from $110. Suburban room rates slid to $80 from $83 on a drop in occupancy from 64.1% to 62.3%.