Posted on 09/26/2009 12:17:39 PM PDT by george76
This year's summer season was the worst on record for Orlando-area hotels.
the Orlando hospitality market wrapped up the three-month season by filling only 58 percent of its available rooms in August, or 8.9percent fewer than in August 2008. That's the worst August on record since Smith Travel Research started keeping track in 1987. The June and July occupancy rates were also the worst for those months since the hotel-tracking company began conducting its local surveys.
And hotel operators were not able to make up for the empty rooms with higher prices: Room rates were down by double-digit percentages all summer compared with a year ago, including a 14.4 percent drop in August to an average $76.29 a night.
"Rooms that we rented last year for $50, we're now renting for $30," said Rizwan Saferali, owner of the Super 8 Kissimmee Suites on Vine Street. "At the end of the day, we're not really making anything."
they are causing continued pain for local hoteliers and Orlando's tourism-dependent economy. The slump in hotel use has already slowed the pace of downtown Orlando's public-venue construction projects, which are funded in part by a "resort tax" collected from visitors staying in hotels and other short-term lodgings.
The falloff in those tax collections has delayed construction of the $425 million performing-arts center...
Maladecki said he expects September's hotel report to also be the worst on record for that month -- worse even than September 2001, when the terrorist attacks grounded all air traffic for several days and triggered a long slump in travel.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotel-online.com ...
‘Orlando’s tourism-dependent economy’
Having a diverse portfolio works on the Street and in the streets.
Orlando-area hotels are having a lonely summer.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-orlando-hotels-august-092209,0,7466685.story
America is the Magic Kingdom now. No need to go to Disney World anymore.
How many states and cities have gambled big taxpayer dollars on tourism?? Convention centers galore and taxfunded hotels in some of them.
great foresight... NOT
Summer in Orlando can be absolutely miserable because of the heat and humidity. Any other season is better.
I blame Hussein, in the main.
The reporter is kidding, right?
Maybe America is sick of Disney politics....
That is how DUmmie reporters think.
Businesses is down : raise the prices.
Nuts.
Thank goodness Florida doesn’t need the revenue they could get from drilling for oil in the Gulf. They would rather see Cuba get that money. Those empty beaches are pristine, though.
Ah, I thought the recession was “technically” over.
Too much supply means hotels will close. There will be no demand until the bums in Congress and the WH are thrown out.
I avoid the Rat like the plague, but my sister just got a package deal at DisneyWorld that cost the same as when we went there as children in the 1980s.
Let Disney just keep pushing homosexuality...they ain’t seen nothing yet.
Florida has never successfully diversified its economy from leisure and agriculture. You do have a rather tightly-knit financial services center in Miami (largely centered on Private Banking for wealthy Latin Americans) and some tech companies along I-4, but these are not enough to change things. Combine with the fact that salaries in the tourism sector are very low, and some of the worst schools in the United States, and you can see that the Sunshine State is far from being the “paradise” that was sold to the rest of America for many years.
Oh and free use of the Bentley as you go to dinner on Worth Avenue.
Most of these folks are low-skilled people who would rather work than sponge off the system. Hoteliers, as a group, are really good at promoting from within, educating their staff, and providing folks with opportunities to advance based on their work ethic. Contrary to what others have claimed, the hotels VET their staff, and do not use "day laborers." The liability is too high to hire illegals.
This does not include senior level staff (managers, etc.), who usually are college graduates.
As occupancy rates plummet, expect to see a lot more people hitting the unemployment roles.
Local municipalities get a lot of revenue from the hospitality industry. HOT, in certain destinations, contributes substantially to the local budget.
The only other time we saw numbers like this was POST-911.
It's bad, and it's going to get worse. Didn't Bambi's crew claim that the recession is over? BS. Hospitality is the LAST to recover. When their numbers are up again, then it's over.
Funny you should mention it. We cancelled our Orlando vacation after the socialist took over our White House, and we're not going back until we have a real American (whether republican or a patriotic democrat like that party used to have) back in the White House. We're turtled up, pulling in economically until we know how bad it will get ... and that our actions will not support a socialist.
Don’t worry about Florida, with all those highly educated and skilled Haitians, Dominicans,Caribs, Mexicans, Guatemalans and Palestinians pouring in it will more than offset the declining revenues.
The new Harry Potter theme park opens in Spring of 2010.
My heart goes out to Islands of Adventure/Universal for dumping so much money into it.
However, I am working specifically to take my kids there. I figure by fall when it calms down, we should get some great deals there.
I think you mean The Breakers. The Biltmore is in Coral Gables. Both are very lovely hotels, however, and you should be able to get some good deals.
Obama did demand that corporations not have conventions for customers and employees.
But 58%! There are going to some really run down buildings in about 5 years.
58%! That is nuclear. Too bad, Orlanda and surrounding are really nice.
On the other hand, we are coming into the Palm Beach season for parties. May be a good time to get some really great deals, like an ocean side suite at the Breakers, some extra chocolate on your pillows at night and complimentary bottle of champagne.(I would prefer a complimentary bottle Kelt but that’s just me) All for $299 per night!
Oh and free use of the Bentley while you have dinner and party on Worth Avenue?
Florida attracts the flotsam and jetsam of humanity. Between the unskilled immigrants and the native-born looking for a “new start in life” (in other words, they fudged up everywhere else), I’m sure it will come through...
Who knows. I am usually partying when I am there and don't think too much(lol) or think to much about it.
I was actually trying to remember two restaurants that I like and I can't think of the names. Got to go look at my match book collection.
I always liked Taboo on Worth. Go there with my parents whenever they come pick me up from PBI.
I hear this all the time, but my wife and I just tried to book the Disney Floridian in CA over a weekend in OCT (I realize, not Orlando) and there wasn’t a single room available. So someone has money.
Me too! I'm planning a December trip.
“Rooms that we rented last year for $50, we’re now renting for $30,” said Rizwan Saferali, owner of the Super 8 Kissimmee Suites on Vine Street”
LOL...I used to live about 8 mins from this place...it is a hell hole.
My wife and I did score an incredible deal for our anniversary in Orlando at Shingle Creek...they had 14% occupancy the night we were there. Ghost town.
I'd guess people were taking advantage of free dining.
Annual pass holders probably.
That was it! They have those blue match books, that are rectangular, with match sticks.
Taboo is down toward Tourneau, isn’t it. At the end by the beach?
Well, the solution seems clear: raise the occupancy tax. My wife recently attended a convention in Palm Springs. The hotel room rate was reduced to $99 because of ongoing construction. But with occupancy tax it came to $123, a full 25% more. Orlando should reap big profits for a while until people stop visiting because of the high taxes.
Up here in northern NJ, they have this shopping/ entertainment mecca that is behind scheule to open (and probably never will), They’ve finished the indoor skiing section, but the shops that were to open there are continually putting it off. They were supposed to have one of the largest ferris whells in the world (with a giant Pepsi logo on it), but I don’t think they’ve even started building it yet. This is next door to the stadium where the NY Giants play, and they’re having problems selling tickets (they had a waiting list of years for their season tickets) due to costs related to their new staium being built.
They pulled that crap here in NY/NJ; I think people are starting to realize they live in an area that is really geared for visiting tourists, and not the Americans that live here (and pay for the construction of so much of this sh!t). This means the stadiums/arenas, restaurants, etc.; around here they used to get some revenue from corporate expense accounts, but a lot of that has dried up.
We’re planning on October. As soon as the kids are back in school. I love homeschooling.
This weekend is the last one for the Harry Potter exhibit in Chicago. We missed that one. 200 props and costumes. We figure it will end up in Orlando.
Reaping the benefits of a "service economy".
Factories? We don't need no steenking factories! We don't have to create wealth any more, just shuffle it around! This is the Brave New World of 'Free Trade' - you make, we buy . . .and buy . . .and buy . . . oops, no more dough. See ya.
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