“July a strong month for San Diego hotels”

July a strong month for San Diego hotels

Posted: 20 Aug 2010 06:30 PM PDT

Originally published August 20, 2010 at 6:10 p.m., updated August 21, 2010 at 6 a.m.

/ Hilton San Diego Bayfront

San Diego County hotels performed well during July

For San Diego County hotels, July is often a month of the year that is as good as it gets, and this year appears to be no different, with the month registering strong growth in occupancies and revenues, as well as high room rates.

According to data provided by Smith Travel Research, July showed an uptick in the all-important categories of occupancy, average daily rates and revenues generated per available rooms, despite a still struggling tourism industry.

On average, San Diego County hotels had an occupancy rate of 83.3 percent in July, compared to 79.3 percent a year earlier, the report shows. And revenues per available room, which is a common measure of a hotel's economic health, were $117.57, up over the previous July's $111.59.

"We really are doing so much better than last year," observed San Diego hotel consultant Jerry Morrison. "Is it where we'd like to be? No, but the trend is up. I believe we'll see increasing occupancies month upon month over last year, so this is a very positive trend."

Truth is, though, San Diego doesn't fare as well as other Southern California areas like Orange County and Los Angeles, which showed much steeper growth rates, according to Smith Travel Research. That's in part because of San Diego's relatively stronger performance last July, when it had much higher occupancies and room rates than those two metro areas. It's also when Comic-Con comes to town, which significantly boosts revenues for San Diego's lodging industry.

"The month of July in San Diego could have been better but the weather could have been a lot better too," Morrison noted. "And when you consider this is a primary drive market, people from L.A. know what the weather's like and these are short-term decisions. So if the forecast is gray and overcast, they're not going to come."

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: "Peace Envoy" Blair Gets an Easy Ride in the Independent.