O.C. Hotel Occupancy, Room Rates Up in 1st Quarter; L.A. Declines

Business at Orange County hotels improved in the first quarter despite heavy construction in Anaheim, but a drop in bookings at a high-profile Hollywood hotel helped push occupancy rates down in Los Angeles County, tourist officials said Tuesday.

Overall occupancy in Orange County hotels was 71.43% from January through March, up 1.2% from 1998, PKF Consulting said. The improvement came despite a decline at such properties as the Anaheim Hilton and Towers, Orange County’s largest hotel, where officials reported occupancy has fallen to the 60% range this year from the 70% range last year. Hotels had a tough time in the winter of 1998 because El Nino deluges scared away visitors.

The average first-quarter room rate for Orange County was up 4.8% at $108.33, PKF said.

In March alone, Orange County room rates rose to $108.75, up 4.2% from a year earlier, while occupancy climbed 2.8% to 78.59%.

Economists use hotel occupancy to gauge the health of the region’s tourist trade, which is Southern California’s third largest industry in terms of sales.

In Los Angeles County, sluggish reservations at the Hollywood Holiday Inn helped trigger nearly a 1% drop in occupancy rates among hotels in the county during the first quarter, according to PKF, which tracks the Southern California hospitality industry.

Despite the slide, Los Angeles-area hotels were still booked to 75% capacity during the first quarter, a healthy figure for any hotel, said Michael Collins with the Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Last fall, the Holiday Inn in Hollywood announced it would be closing its doors for at least two years to allow TrizecHahn Development, the building’s owner, to undertake top-to-bottom remodeling.

The hotel didn’t close until April 1, but the October announcement was enough to scare away bookings from the 450-room facility, Collins said.