ORLANDO— Orlando hotels are filling up, thanks to steep discounts, but experts are saying that strategy can’t last, according to a report in The Orlando Sentinel. “We want to discourage that,” said Duane Vinson, an analyst with Smith Travel Research, noting that the discounting creates a buyers’ market which will be hard to change as the economy picks up and hotels try to charge full price again. Orlando-area hotels were 75.5% full, on average, the week ended Feb. 16, just 6.8% lower than the average a year earlier,said Vinson, who was speaking at a meeting of local hoteliers. Business was boosted by an overflow from the recently held Daytona 500, he said. But rates were off by an average of 6.6%, blunting any increase in occupancy. Richard Maladecki, president of the Central Florida Hotel & Lodging Association, said he understands the need to discount after the attacks, but “I think the days of cutting prices are over.” “We have to look at stabilizing rates,” he said. Vinson said a better strategy would be advertising aggressively and cutting expenses as much as possible, but he warned that whatever action hotels take, things will be difficult for some time. He and other industry analysts say it will be a year or more before occupancy returns to pre-Sept. 11 levels. The Orlando Sentinel
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