Hotel Occupancy Recovers, Rates Still on the Mend

NEW YORK CITY-A new study by the city’s convention and visitors bureau on the city’s tourism industry one year after the World Trade Center attacks shows local hotel occupancy has bounced back but room rates continue to lag.

The report, released last week by NYC & Co., says citywide hotel occupancy rates have rebounded to within 1% to 2% of where they were a year ago. However, in September 2001, hotel occupancy was 27% behind the same period of 2000.

Average room rates are down 10% to 15% from last year at this time. Daily room rates in October 2001 were down 29% from 2000–the largest post-Sept 11 year-to-year difference.

In July–the most recent statistics available–total hotel rooms filled were down 1.3% from 2001 to 1.54 million, while the overall amount spent on hotel rooms was down $31 million, or 11%, to $264 million. This compares with post-9/11 lows in September 2001 when total hotel room nights were down 30% from September 2000 and total room sales were down 45%.