Hotels Finally See Heads Returning to Beds

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Hotels Finally See Heads Returning to Beds

By AL STEWART

Staff Reporter

After sputtering along for nearly three years, local hotels are eyeing the coming summer months as a comeback season.

“July and August could be the best we’ve ever had,” said Brian Fitzgerald, the general manager of the Westin Bonaventure, L.A.’s largest hotel. “We’ve stepped up our marketing efforts and have reached out to groups and we’re very pleased with the response so far.”

Like its regional competitors, the 1,354-room Westin Bonaventure saw sales dip sharply over the past few years as both tourism and business travel fell. But hotel operators and analysts said the strength shown at the start of the year could push the rebound through the summer.

“In past summers we may have had two conventions stay here; this summer we have one a month from June to September,” said Bill Worcester, general manager of the Los Angeles Downtown Marriott. “It’s still a little too early to tell, but we’re cautiously optimistic about what we’re seeing this summer.”

If the uptick seen in the January-April period is any indication, there is some cause for optimism.

According to hospitality tracking firm PKF Consulting, occupancy rates in L.A. County averaged 47.8 percent, a 14.5 percent increase over the like period a year ago. Average room rates across the county also rose, though less steeply. The countywide average through the first four months was $121.03, up 6.4 percent from the $113.73 of a year earlier.

Downtown also saw gains, though at a cost. An 8 percent decline in room rates in the downtown market helped push occupancy levels back above 50 percent for the hotels with average room rates of $85 or higher.

Through the first four months, average occupancy in that sector of the market was 54 percent, up from just under 42 percent in the first four months of 2003. Room rates in the period dipped to $114.60 from $124.42.

One possible downtown draw: the opening last fall of Walt Disney Concert Hall. Also helping the market, hotel operators said, has been a weaker dollar that is contributing to a revival in international tourism, particularly from the United Kingdom and Asia.

Bruce Baltin, senior vice president at PKF Consulting, was buoyed by the recent numbers but not ready to pronounce the market recovered from the debilitating effects of the falloff in business after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

“I don’t know that L.A.’s hotel industry has fully recovered,” he said. “But it did well in the early part of this year. What’s happening is that consumers are getting sharper as they hunt for prices and, thanks to the Internet, pricing is becoming more transparent.”

Then there’s the lure of Los Angeles.

“L.A. hotels are seeing demand grow,” said Lalia Rach, dean of the Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management at New York University. “You can’t say the same about San Francisco. L.A. still has the hip culture, the glitter, the stars. All that helps put L.A. in the forefront of people’s minds.”

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