Even the bashers on RB know you can't back up what you post. You are wrong. You shouldn't just make things up.
Salt Lake City Hotels Saw Occupancy Rates Rise In April By Mike Gorrell, The Salt Lake Tribune Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News May 29--Across the state but especially in Salt Lake City, hotel occupancy and room rates for April confounded fears of a post-Olympic crash.
The statewide hotel occupancy rate reached 61 percent in April. That compared with 58.4 percent in April 2001, when the 2002 Olympics were still 10 months away and the economic effects of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks had not yet taken their toll. The nightly room rate also rose, by roughly $3.60, to $73, according to the Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Lodging Report.
Even better numbers were posted in Salt Lake County. Occupancy increased in April compared with a year earlier to 65.4 percent, with the average nightly fee climbing from $70 to $77.
"That's the largest jump we've seen without a [direct] Olympic impact," Lodging Report market analyst Robert Benton said. "It's very good. ... April is our first real month to see what the underlying trend is post-Olympics, with all of this new hotel development."
The bottom line? "Hotels are pushing their rates up," he added. "For the industry, that's good. For the traveler, that's not so good."
Benton said hotels in downtown Salt Lake City and its eastern suburbs had a particularly strong performance in April, climbing to 70 percent occupancy from 58 percent a year earlier. The average room cost $87 a night, $11 more than a year earlier.
Hotels around Salt Lake City International Airport and in southern Salt Lake County had occupancy rates of 62 percent and 57 percent respectively, both up from April 2001.
Benton said Denver and Albuquerque, N.M., also showed gains in occupancy and daily rates -- Denver's increase being the first sign of improvement in 13 months -- but neither kept pace with Salt Lake's numbers.
He attributed the rise in all three cities to conferences and conventions, and predicted that financial impacts of continued business growth should spread to suburban hotels.
April occupancy rates reached 72.5 percent in St. George, 55 percent in Ogden, 57 percent in Logan, 51 percent in Utah County and 47 percent in Cedar City.
Although Cedar City's rate looks low, Benton noted it is still an improvement over previous Aprils. The southwestern Utah city's hotel business traditionally is slow until summer, when the Shakespearean festival is a large draw.
Logan's numbers also continue a yearlong upward trend, he added.
-----To see more of The Salt Lake Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sltrib.com
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