Last February's Olympic Winter Games helped drive up occupancy and room rates at Salt Lake-area hotels during 2002, amid what is being described as one of the hotel industry's worst years.
Occupancy rates at Salt Lake hotels ended the year at 64.1 percent, up 2.3 percentage points over the previous year, according to the Rocky Mountain Lodging report, which tracks lodging trends in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico.
Average room rates for Salt Lake hotels ended the year at $89.86, up $15.26 over 2001.
Statewide, occupancy also showed an increase to 62.1 percent, up 2.2 points over the previous year. The average daily room rate across Utah ended the year at $85.24, up from $73.43 a year earlier.
The Beehive State outdistanced the national occupancy rate by nearly three percentage points in 2002. The national occupancy rate sank to 59.2 percent, down from 59.8 percent a year earlier, according to Smith Travel Research, a Tennessee-based research firm that tracks national occupancy rates.
"It was not a good year," said Bobby Bowers, a spokesman for Smith Travel Research. "We started tracking the industry in 1987, and it's probably the lowest occupancy the industry has seen."
Utah's year-end occupancy rates also outpaced Colorado, at 57.6 percent, and New Mexico, at 61.8 percent.
"It's now a buyers' market for people who are traveling," said Robert Benton, a hospitality consultant based in Parker, Colo. "Businesses are holding off on investing, trying to improve their bottom line, and one of the first things businesses cut when profits start to sink is travel."
It was another dismal year in business travel, down 4.3 percent in 2002 over 2001, according to the Travel Industry Association of America, a trade association based in Washington, D.C., that tracks travel trends.
"The bad thing is that it is marking the fourth straight year of decline in business travel," said Cathy Keefe, a spokeswoman for the association.
Yet February was a banner month for Utah hoteliers housing Olympics guests, helping to rescue average daily room rates and occupancy rates for the year.
Salt Lake's occupancy rate of 90.8 percent in February, nearly 23 percentage points higher than 2001's rate of 68 percent, outpaced the nation's top 25 markets, including Miami, New York City, Los Angeles, San Diego and Atlanta — all cities that suffered year-over-year declines in occupancy in February.
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