Tourists heading back to the hotel

Alicia Robinson

Tourism was strong this summer in Newport Beach, with average hotel

room costs and occupancy rates up slightly in August compared with

the same month in 2003.

Hotel occupancy in the city was just more than 81% in August, and

the occupancy level from January to August stood at nearly 70%, an

increase of 5% within the same period in 2003, a recent report from

PKF Consulting said.

“Obviously we’re seeing a nice uptick with the summer business,”

said Marta Hayden, executive director of the Newport Beach Conference

and Visitors Bureau. “We’re very encouraged about how the summer went

and also very encouraged about the economy.”

The average room rate in August was $167.09 in Newport Beach,

which was higher than north Orange County and Anaheim rates but lower

than Huntington Beach and South County rates.

After September, demand for hotel rooms in Newport tends to fall

off, but that’s when the bureau steps up its ad campaigns to attract

tourism for the holidays, Hayden said.

In the first half of the year, hotels in Newport Beach and

elsewhere in Orange County faced increased competition from Los

Angeles, but hotel owners around the state can take a breather,

because fewer new hotel rooms are being planned now than in 2003.

That information came out Thursday in a new hotel development survey

by Costa Mesa-based Atlas Hospitality Group.

In Los Angeles County, more than 300 new rooms opened in the first

half of 2004, but it was the only county in the state to show an

increase in new rooms when compared with 2003. Orange County opened

462 new rooms between January and June this year -- none were in

Newport-Mesa -- but that was 74% fewer than opened in the first half

of 2003, the report said.

Every region in the state showed a decline in the number of rooms

being planned, which is a good sign of higher long-term profitability

for hotel owners, according to the report.

“For the consumer, it means that you’re not going to get a lot of

discounting of room rates,” said Alan Reay, president of Atlas

Hospitality Group. “Typically, when there is more demand for the

rooms, the hoteliers will raise rates rather than go for occupancy.”

In Newport Beach, the lack of new rooms being developed is likely

to remain the status quo because there’s so little land available to

develop, Reay said. The report did note the 12 rooms to be added with

the expansion and renovation of the Balboa Inn, which is scheduled to

be finished in June.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330.