Good News for the South Florida Hotel Industry

The South Florida Business Journal is reporting some news that reads like music to the ears of local hoteliers, and that is the rise in hotel occupancy rates. With the abundance of national events that have hit our shores just in the past three months alone, we were expecting as much. From the Pro Bowl, to Super Bowl, to the Food Network’s South Beach Food & Wine Festival, to Winter Music Conference and FASHIONmiami, there has certainly been a reason for the birds to flock south for the winter.

Smith Travel Research offers one of the broadest databases of hotel performance statistics, and for the week that ended with March 27, here’s what they determined:

• Miami-Dade: 7.2 percent occupancy increase
• Broward: 8.2 percent occupancy increase
• Palm Beach: 7.5 percent occupancy increase

When you compare that to the national average of a 5.9-percent increase, South Florida is looking like the land of plenty.

Add to that the fact that when considering average daily rates, Miami took the national prize, increasing 5.1 percent (from $184.17 to $193.59), and we’re ready to start dancing in the streets—or at least share a celebratory toast at The W South Beach, The Setai, or Fontainebleau.

Predictions for the coming year indicate that this good news is not just a passing trend and that perhaps we are truly on the way back to the good ole days of prosperity. SFBJ reported that an Atlanta-based hospitality firm is predicting Miami will close out 2010 with a 2.2 percent rise in yearly occupancy rates over last year.

Source South Florida Business Journal