August RevPAR Drops 3%-5%

LOS ANGELES— U.S. hotel room revenues fell 3% to 5% in August, thanks to sluggish demand from business travelers. The decline in RevPAR came as average hotel occupancy declined between 1% and 3% for the month compared with August 2001, according to hotel data tracking firm Smith Travel Research. The latest decline in room revenues was wider than the 2.1% dip in July, but a slight improvement over a 5.6% drop in June and a 5.2% drop in May. Luxury hotels continued to see the biggest room revenue drop in August, as cost-conscious travelers traded down for cheaper accommodations, according to a Reuters report. According to the report, August marks the last month of useful year-to-year hotel data for comparative purposes, since year-ago data for September, October, November and December will be tainted by the steep decline in travel that followed last years Sept. 11 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center. Last September alone, room revenues plunged more than 23%, as people canceled their travel plans en masse in the weeks after the attacks. Year-on-year declines eased after that but continued in the double digits through January.