Like many sectors in the economy, Hartford’s hotel industry is improving from one of the worst meltdowns in history, but at a slower pace than hotels in other U.S. cities and the nation as a whole.
“We are seeing signs of an upswing in the Hartford market,” said Andrea Foster, a vice president with PKF Consulting in Boston. “But its recovery is going to be slower.”
Greater Hartford hotels filled up 56.5 percent of their available rooms this year through August, compared to 56.7 percent from the same time period last year.
Average daily rate for local hotels was $100.27 year-to-date through August, a slight improvement from $96.26 in August 2011, while local hotels brought in about $60 per available room, according to Smith Travel Research, Inc., which tracks national and international hotel performance.
Ginny Kozlowski, executive director of the Connecticut Lodging Association, is cautiously optimistic about a recovery as convention business and corporate travel pick up again. The economic slowdown and deep cost-cutting across the business sector led to cutbacks in the tourism industry.
Connecticut could see a turnaround sooner as the state’s new marketing campaign, “Still Revolutionary” is starting to attract more visitors, Kozlowski said.
“We see positive signs of a recovery,” she said. “But it’s going to take some time and a lot of hard work.”
Much like Greater Hartford, the whole of Connecticut saw a slight decrease in room occupancy — 57.1 in 2012 vs. 57.4 percent in 2011 — and a slight increase in average daily rate to $103.10 this year from $100.38 last year.
“Although the Connecticut economic outlook has been more encouraging lately, the state has a long way to go before it gets back to pre-recession levels of 2008,” said Lisa Crinella, general manager of Homewood Suites by Hilton in Windsor Locks.
“High unemployment remains a challenge and international weakness is also a concern as well as it being an election year. Major projects like UConn Health Center’s $864 million expansion and the development of Jackson Laboratories are great incentives for the state,” said Crinella. “We’ll see minimal gains in 2013, but that’s better than another slow down.”
Meanwhile, hotels nationally are performing better than Connecticut: 63 percent occupancy rates and a $105.74 average daily rate.
In the first five months of 2012, U.S. hotels sold some 430 million room nights — that’s more rooms than in any other five-month period. In Connecticut, hotels added more than 20,346 room nights over this past year.
“Nationally, there is a record level of demand for more hotel rooms,” said Freitag. “But the demand for supply in the Hartford market is not mirroring national trends.”
