PHILADELPHIA—After a strong first quarter, hoteliers in the Philadelphia region are seeing drops in occupancy rates and room rents, due in large part to the lack of convention business in the city.
In May just 7,400 room nights were filled, an 89% decrease from the 67,000 room nights filled in May 2013. Hotel occupancy decreased 4.9% in May 2014 and average room rents fell 6% as compared to a year earlier, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.
In the first 28 days of June, hotel occupancy was down 5% to 81% and the average room rate was down 5.4% from $184.72 last year $to 174.83 this year. Overall room revenue for Philadelphia hoteliers was down 9.7% during the first 28 days of June.
“My hotels are not having a good summer. We had a very good first quarter, but our summer is abysmal,” says Ed Grose, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association. He adds that all the gains the industry enjoyed in the first quarter are being lost in the second quarter. “We know it's going to be a tight summer because of the lack of conventions,” Grose says. See story in the Philadelphia Business Journal.
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John Jordan
John Jordan is a veteran journalist with 36 years of print and digital media experience.
