Slow year for new hotels

What kind of year was it for hotel building? Slow, says a new study by Smith Travel Research. The travel marketing group said there were 569 hotels opened in the US in 2003, compared to 806 in 2002. What types of hotels were popular? The vast majority of the new openings were mid-scale facilities that do not serve food and beverages, such as La Quinta and Holiday Inn. Their locations were often in secondary markets. “There’s not as much risk in the secondary markets, and these hotels aren’t as expensive to build,” said Smith researcher Bobby Bowers. Hotel building was weakest in the upscale market. Only 23 luxury hotels opened this year, compared to 45 in 2003. Another study found some good news in US lodging demand. PricewaterhouseCoopers said industry demand will set a new record level in the fourth quarter of 2003. The company also forecast lodging demand to increase 4.5% next year, while lodging industry supply will only grow at 1.4%.