The U.S. hotel industry continued to show marked weakness in both occupancy and room revenues in March, according to preliminary results announced by Smith Travel Research, the industry tracking firm based in Hendersonville, Tenn.
Compared with March 2001, occupancy rates across all price points were down 3 percent to 5 percent, while room revenues were off by 8 percent to 10 percent. As has been the case throughout the current recession, the high end of the hotel industry suffered more severely than the midprice and economy segments. While occupancies for the month at upper upscale and upscale properties declined 5 percent to 7 percent over the prior year, for example, occupancies at economy hotels dropped 2 percent to 4 percent.