At the recent 2010 Small Hotels Retreat, hosted September 9-11 in Puerto Rico at the Rio Mar Beach Resort, A Wyndham Grand Resort, Brittany Baldwin, sales executive for Smith Travel Research (STR), provided an optimistic overview of the status of small hotels in the Caribbean.
Delegates learned that ADR (average daily rate) increased by 4 percent throughout the Caribbean in 2010 based on statistics collected through July, and that RevPAR (revenue per available room) rose 5.8 percent. Occupancy levels increased by 1.8 percent and room revenue jumped 6.1 percent during the same period.
News for the small hotel sector was even more positive, demonstrating a 10.8-percent increase in ADR and a 19-percent leap in RevPAR. Small hotels saw occupancy increase by 7.4 percent with room revenue jumping 19.7 percent.
The statistics stirred much optimism among hoteliers who have not seen positive growth since the downturn at the end of 2008.
Compared to small hotels (defined as 75 rooms or less) in other warm weather regions such as Florida and Hawaii, which sustained negative growth in ADR, small hotels in the Caribbean and Mexico are looking particularly good this year.
Visit www.caribbeanhotelandtourism.com.