DAYTONA BEACH — Despite a boost from the annual Jeep Beach event and one day of the Easter holiday weekend, occupancy at hotels in Volusia County was flat in April year-over-year, according to figures released by the Lodging & Hospitality Association of Volusia County.
Even so, average daily room rates and revenue per available room, a figure calculated by multiplying a hotel’s average daily rate by its occupancy rate, both increased compared with the same month a year ago.
Year-to-date for the first four months of 2018, occupancy is up 2 percent from 2017, a year that generated a record of more than 10 million visitors to Volusia County.
For the same four months, average daily rate is $140.61, compared with $140.98 for the same period of 2017; and revenue per available room is $103.17, compared with $100.56 for the same four months a year ago.
HOTEL GUESTS: Overall hotel occupancy was 73 percent in April, identical to the occupancy for the same month in 2017, according to statistics compiled by Mid-Florida Marketing & Research.
For the year to date, as of April 30, occupancies at hotels in Volusia County are slightly up, with 73 percent of available rooms filled on average, compared with an average occupancy rate of just over 71 percent in the first four months of 2017. Last year was one that set new record highs in Volusia for both number of visitors (10 million) and tourism bed tax revenues.
RATES ON THE RISE: The Volusia countywide average daily hotel room rate for the month increased 5 percent year-over-year to $130.47, compared with $123.91 in April 2017. Revenue per available room rose to $95.23, also up about 5 percent from $90.41 for the same month last year.
STATEWIDE COMPARISON: In April, Volusia County’s 73 percent occupancy was less than the statewide average of 77.4 percent, according to STR, a data and analytics specialist. Likewise, Volusia’s $130.47 average daily rate was less than the statewide average of $155.62; and the county’s revenue per available room of $95.23 was less than the statewide average of $120.45.
SPECIAL EVENTS BREAK-OUT: Occupancy over Easter weekend, March 30-April 1, was 92 percent, with an average daily rate of $153.83 and revenue per available room of $141.61. Occupancy during Jeep Beach week, April 24-29, was 81 percent, with ADR of $139.75 and revenue per available room of $109.12.
INDUSTRY OBSERVER’S TAKE: “What I found especially interesting is that we saw nice growth in occupancy on the west side of the county,” said Evelyn Fine, president of Mid-Florida Marketing & Research. “West Volusia is doing a heck of a job capitalizing on all of their attributes and we’re seeing evidence of that on an ongoing basis. Another thing that affected the occupancy was that Easter straddled two months and when that happens we always know we’re going to have a strange holiday period in terms of tracking. If I were a hotelier, I’d be looking at these numbers and saying, ‘At least the rates were good and we’re making money on the rooms we sold.’ Now, we need to focus on an upward swing in occupancy.”
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