The Caribbean is the only region in the world where luxury hotel rates are higher this year than in 2008, reported STF’s Jan Freitag.
That was the year when rates are many hotels peaked prior to the ongoing recession.
A night in an average luxury room, so far, is running $395 a night. That’s 17 percent more than in 2010, according to a new Smith Travel Research report.
Rates for 2011 vs. 2008, according to STR:
- Caribbean: $395 vs. $380 (4 percent up)
- Americas: $236 vs. $287 (18 percent down)
- Europe: $390 vs. $376 (4 percent down)
- Asia/Pacific: $229 vs. $233 (2 percent down)
- Middle East/Africa: $289 vs. $290 (flat)
The Caribbean is a small market and perhaps not indicative of the overall hotel market, which STR says after a rebound may be slowing down, at least in the top 25 US markets.
Demand “has probably hit that ceiling,” STR’s COO Brad Garner said last week during a Hotel Data Conference presentation titled “Everybody loves a winner: Top performing markets and the recovery.”
At year-end 2010, room demand was up 8.6 percent. But year-to-date June 2011, demand had slipped back to a gain of 6.3 percent, according to STR, the parent company of HotelNewsNow.com.
When might a more permanent recovery happen? Garner says it’s at least two years away.
By David Wilkening
