County Hotel Occupancy Rate Drops, but N. County Sees Rise : Lodgings: As bad as 1992 was, it could have been worse. Some visitors, perhaps frightened by last year’s L.A. riots, shifted their business to O.C.
When Orange County lodging executives look back on 1992, the Elvis Presley classic “Heartbreak Hotel” might come to mind.
The county’s occupancy rate dropped about half a point to 63.1% compared with 1991, according to figures released Wednesday by PKF Consulting in Los Angeles, a hotel consulting group. The average daily room rate was up 0.8% to $75.20.
“Thank God it’s over,” said Bruce Baltin, the head of PKF’s consulting group. “It was a poor year overall.”
But it could have been worse. To some extent, Orange County appears to have attracted some of the tourists who might otherwise have stayed in Los Angeles had they not been scared off by late April’s riots. The North County hotels--the closest to Los Angeles--posted an occupancy rate increase of 5.2% for the year.
That pattern was seen in other Los Angeles suburbs, such as the South Bay and Pasadena, which also reported gains. In downtown Los Angeles, however, hotels saw their occupancy rate drop 9.6%.
Not all areas of Orange County were able to take advantage of the shift of tourist destinations. The Anaheim area, the county’s tourism base, had a 2.4% decrease, as did the John Wayne Airport area, where most business travelers stay.
The results were especially disappointing, considering that many hotel executives had forecast a mild improvement in occupancy rates in 1992 because they expected the recession to ease. Instead, it seemed to worsen. Fewer conventioneers visited Anaheim, and fewer traveling sales representatives spent nights in the airport area.
The spring riots and the summer earthquakes in Southern California were also blamed for rerouting by many foreign and domestic tourists.
“It’s probably one of the most difficult years in driving revenue that we’ve had,” said Ned Snavely, general manager of the Anaheim Marriott. “We thought the recession was behind us. But with the international and national travelers that Orange County attracts, it isn’t.”
Room rates fell slightly in the airport area, while they rose slightly in the Anaheim area. But that increase may have been because tour and business groups often lock in their hotel rates a year or two ahead of time, Snavely said.
The only other area to see an occupancy rate increase was South County, where high summer temperatures lured back the beach crowd that had deserted the region for warmer destinations during the foggy summer of 1991.
“You saw an upswing because of the good weather,” said Bob Van Ness, sales director of the Surf & Sand Hotel in Laguna Beach.
Hotel Industry Maintains Status Quo
Orange County’s hotel industry showed little change in 1992 compared to the previous year. The average daily rate for a room increased less than $1; the occupancy rate slipped, but less than a percentage point. Average Daily Room Rate: Anaheim 1991: $76.34 1992: $78.83 South 1991: $95.86 1992: $92.20 Airport 1991: $74.83 1992: $73.65 North 1991: $59.94 1992: $57.73 County Average 1991: $74.59 1992: $75.20
Occupancy Rate: Anaheim 1991: 67.0% 1992: 65.4% South 1991: 61.3% 1992: 63.9% Airport 1991: 60.2% 1992: 58.8% North 1991: 57.8% 1992: 60.9% County Average 1991: 63.7% 1992: 63.1%
Staying in Style
Despite the recession, big and expensive hotels continue to have the highest occupancy rates in Orange County. Occupancy Rate by Room Cost: Less than $35 1991: 61.7% 1992: 60.7% $35.01 to $55 1991: 58.7% 1992: 59.8% $55.01 to $75 1991: 65.4% 1992: 62.5% $75.01 to $100 1991: 65.9% 1992: 65.5% More than $100 1991: 68.1% 1992: 67.6%
Occupancy Rate by Hotel Size: Fewer than 100 rooms 1991: 55.9% 1992: 60.8% 100 to 199 rooms 1991: 62.7% 1992: 62.8% 200 to 299 rooms 1991: 59.7% 1992: 60.2% 300 to 600 rooms 1991: 66.9% 1992: 62.1% More than 600 rooms 1991: 69.5% 1992: 68.0%
Source: PKF Consulting; researched by DALLAS M. JACKSON / Los Angeles Times
