REAL ESTATE : Hotel Occupancy Rate of 59% Lags Behind State and Nation

Orange County often gets high marks for its robust economy and brisk tourism business. But the local hotel industry, at least by one measure, is not doing as well as hotels elsewhere in California or the nation. The reason: A wave of new hotels built in the mid-1980s flooded the market with more rooms than even Orange County’s usual flood of tourists and business travelers can fill.

During the first three months of this year, only 59% of the county’s 16,000 hotel rooms were filled. The national average was 61%. For the western states it was 64%. And for California, 61%, according to surveys by hotel consultant Pannell Kerr Forster.

The county didn’t do so well a year ago, either. Then, the occupancy rate was a healthier 63%, but the state rate was nearly 65%, the western region nearly 70% and the nation 65%.

The average daily room rate in Orange County during the first quarter was $73.74, up from $70.31 a night in the first quarter of 1990. In California, the average room rate was higher--$82 a night during the first quarter--up only slightly from $81.30 a year earlier.

For the nation, the average room rate was $76.36 a night, up slightly from $75.93 a year ago.