Hotels Enjoy Boom in Room Demand : Survey: Orange County makes Top 10 list of hotel markets. But experts warn against proliferation.

What does Orange County have in common with Nashville, Cleveland, and Birmingham, Ala?

No, they haven’t all just hit the best or worst places to live list.

The common denominator is a ranking among the 10 hottest hotel markets in the country released Monday by Laventhol & Horwath, the accounting and consulting firm that follows the leisure industry.

In Orange County, strong tourism and convention markets helped the area climb onto the list because room-demand in the hotel market here grew 8.2% last year, compared to 3.5% growth nationwide. Room-demand data measures how many patrons actually stayed in the county’s hotel rooms.

The data measures hotel occupancy and room-demand in the Anaheim-Santa Ana statistical area, which includes all of Orange County.

In numbers, the survey means that about 26,600 people stayed in hotel rooms every night last year in Orange County, compared to 24,580 the previous year, said Mark Lomanno, national research director with Laventhol & Horvath in Philadelphia.

The county’s occupancy rate--measuring the number of hotel rooms occupied--was 69.3% last year, up from 67% in 1988. Nationally, the average occupancy rate hovers at 63.5%, Lomanno said.

At the same time, the county’s room rates were up 2.8% last year, as well, to $64.56 from $62.79 the year before. That compares to a national average rate of about $56 last year, Lomanno said.

In addition to strong convention and tourism activity, Orange County “has the advantage of being perceived as ‘different’ than Los Angeles,” Lomanno said. That’s because “for people on the East Coast, it’s like going to the West Coast without having to go to the sprawl associated with Los Angeles--whether that perception is true or not.”

The survey measures hotel markets from two perspectives--growth in construction and in lodging demand. Orange County showed increases in both, Lomanno said.

“These are cities which will experience a construction boom or where demand is unusually strong and growing,” said Lomanno, adding that Orange County is the only one out of the 10 that should experience both.

Other cities that made the list include Dallas and Houston, Tex.; Jacksonville and Orlando, Fla.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; and the New York metropolitan area.

There is a cautionary note for Orange County: a continuing proliferation of hotels could cause a glut. About 1,900 rooms were added last year to bring the county’s total to 49,900 rooms.

“That’s the reason we reported it as an area to watch,” Lomanno said. “So many hotels are being built, but they’re also being absorbed very quickly.”