PwC Quantifies Hotel Occupancy Decline

PricewaterhouseCoopers today issued lodging industry projections for the fourth quarter, saying room nights during the last three months of the year will drop by almost 62,000. This is in addition to 54,000 room nights that already were lost in the third quarter.

"While lodging demand picked up by some measures during the first half of the year, actual demand remains weak," said Bjorn Hanson, head of the firm's hospitality and leisure practice. PwC estimated that lodging demand will remain weak through the third quarter of next year. For buyers, the lodging industry's continuing troubles puts greater pressure on hotels as negotiations for 2003 rates enter their final weeks. Hanson blamed safety concerns surrounding the Sept. 11 anniversary, as well as federal security alerts generally and possible military operations in Iraq for the current drop in lodging demand.