“Table of Eight” – Our occasional column with comments about Chapter events.
(By HSMAInsider, Julie Wernick, jwfranklin1@gmail.com)
What a nice turn out for the Chapter’s dinner meeting at the Renaissance Boca Raton for a presentation on tourism trends and visitor data by Brittany Baldwin, Sales Executive, Caribbean & Southern US, STR (Smith Travel Research).
Don’t you love meeting new people and learning about them and their companies? I was especially pleased to join Dr. Peter Ricci, Director, Hospitality Management Program, Florida Atlantic University, and some of his friends at their table. Peter, by the way, has CHA, CHSE, and CRME certifications, is a very prolific writer of scholarly articles on lodging management topics and a member of “too many to name” groups and associations (including serving on the board of our Chapter). Mark Klayman, Director of Business Development, Vizergy provides internet marketing and e-commerce solutions with reservation systems, services, and special software to help clients drive more revenue. John Bailey, the General Manager of the Hilton Boca Raton (near 441) keeps busy with duties on property and serves on the Board of the Palm Beach County Hotel & Lodging Association. Compared notes with Josh Morrone, Member Care Manager, South Central Region for America’s Best Value Inn by Vantage, and Sanja Vukik, CHA, National Travel Sales Manager, Vantage Hospitality Group. Sanja, by the way, is a 2010 FAU graduate.
As always, there will be different things that people will remember from a presentation that may apply to their specific hotel/company. But here are a few key points from my notes.
Ms. Baldwin spoke about her company, STR, presented an overview of US travel data and then focused in on trends for Florida and for our southeast portion of Florida (from Palm Beach to Miami-Dade).
On a national basis, 2011 showed a total US occupancy of approximately 59.2%. These are year-to-date (YTD) figures through June, 2011. In general, their survey results are showing that there is the strongest hotel demand rebound ever. The supply side is slowing down and demand is up. The ADR (average daily rate) has been very erratic during each downturn period (since 1989) and currently the industry is struggling to get hotel rates back up to where they should be. STR is not sure how long this will take, however. Ms. Baldwin noted that it took six years to get rates back up just to equal rates of inflation after 911 (Nine eleven).
Florida currently has approximate 3600 hotel properties with some 411,537 rooms. June 2011 YTD showed an overall state occupancy rate of 67.5%. Last year was a pretty bad year for the industry, but so far one can see that travelers are returning to Florida and numbers are up.
Southeast Florida is showing a better than average demand than most other destinations in the US and demand is coming back strong. Occupancy is rebounding, but the room rate is lagging behind quite a bit. Hoteliers need to realize that they have “pricing power” and can start now to get better rates for their rooms. Interestingly, the weekday occupancy rates have outperformed the rates of the last 3 years. Although, in all time periods, the ADR is showing less dollars received, it’s still better compared to what it was in 2009 and 2010.
What about the rest of 2011? Nationally, STR is forecasting increases of 3.8% for occupancy and 4% for ADR. For 2012, occupancy should be up another 2% and ADR should be up 6%. In Southeast Florida, they’re projecting an increase of 5.8% for the balance of 2011; and an increase in 2012 of another percentage point (up 1%).
Ms. Baldwin suggested that hotels familiarize themselves with the “Bandwidth” Report. This report tells you how your property is doing in comparison to your competitors/other hotels. Another useful tool is a “Revenue Positioning Matrix” (RPM). Does your hotel price positioning strategy make sense? Can you provide more value and clearly make customers understand why you charge more? Studying these various matrices, can lead to a higher ADR index and a higher occupancy index. If you have meetings/conference space, another suggested report to check out is the Meeting Planner Survey which tells you what planners think about your destination.
I’m sure everyone brought at least one really good statistic or useful piece of information back with them to their companies after the program. Thank you, again, Brittany.
(Note: Ms. Baldwin also spoke at our HSMAI Chapter’s luncheon the next day at the Holiday Inn–Fort Myers Airport for our west coast members with targeted data relating to Lee and Collier counties.)
Mark your calendars:
On Wednesday, August 17th, the Chapter’s speed networking meeting will be held
at the Clevelander Hotel, Miami Beach. 6 pm including wine and hors d’oeuvres.
PS Just a reminder to send in your industry news/updates for the “Around Town” column for the HSMAI-South Florida chapter’s blog, “Scoop”, to jwfranklin1@gmail.co
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