EUGENE, OR Developers in Eugene-Springfield have added 295 new hotel rooms in the past two years, marking a nearly 9% increase in room capacity since June 1999, which is more than double the national average. Currently the total metro area hotel room count is about 3,600.
However, despite the sudden increase in supply, owners and managers of the four newest hotels say initial demand for rooms thus far is beating projections.
“Thirty days into this, we didnt expect to exceed 20% occupancy, but we hit 50% after the first week we opened, ” said Sean Waters, GM/ Hampton Inn.
However, a Smith Travel study showed that the average occupancy rates in Eugene-Springfield have dropped about 9% since the beginning of the year. Also, for the past 12 months, the study found hotels here posted an average occupancy rate of 62.3%, down from 65.8 % last year. (5/17/01) The Register-Guard, OR