Hotel occupancy inches up

The numbers from PKF consulting are only from April, but they show gradual improvement. The occupancy rate for L.A. County was 69.7 percent, up from 66.1 percent a year earlier. The county's busiest hotels were in West Hollywood (77.9 percent) and Marina del Rey (77 percent). OC was at 74.1 percent, San Diego 70.8 percent, and SF 79.8 percent. As for average daily room rates, L.A. fell 1.5 percent, to $140.53, but that actually yielded a 4 percent increase in revenue per available room (the number hotel folks pay the most attention to). More recent reports show continued slow growth nationwide. From the WSJ:

Returning to the industry's boom-time highs could take several years. PKF Consulting Inc., a hotel-industry analysis company, predicts U.S. average rates and revpar will return to their recent peaks by 2013, but occupancy won't do so until after 2014. As for property values, HVS, the hotel and leisure research company, forecasts U.S. hotels will regain their 2006 values by 2013.