NEW YORK— New York City hotels experienced higher occupancy levels last month than expected because of discounted rates and emotional marketing pitches to lure in domestic visitors. However, rates, were an estimated 30% lower than the year before. On a few typically slow days before Christmas Day and New Years Eve, hotel rooms were actually fuller than the prior year, according to HotelRevMAX, a Manhattan-based hospitality research firm in a recent report on crainsny.com. On Dec. 22, occupancy was 68% versus 52% the prior year, and on Dec. 28, occupancy hit 83% versus 78% the prior year. “December came in stronger than a lot of people expected,” agreed John Fox, senior vp/PKF Consulting, in that same report. “All those campaigns put heads in beds, but at a very low room rate.” Occupancy was higher than PKF projected for December following the attacks, but room rates were even lower than projected. Occupancy was 73% for the month, compared with a forecast of 65%, and average room rates were $195 versus a projection of $197. In 2000, a record year for the Big Apples hotel business, the ADR in December was $277.82. On New Years Eve, an key hotel night, occupancy was almost even with the prior years rate of 81%, but at sharply lower rates. Fox indicated it is too early to assess performance for January. Early signs, however, point to a slow month compared with last year, with an expected 20% to 25% drop in RevPAR. SOURCE: crainsny.com
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