Best January in four years for local lodging industry

Historic City News has learned that in St Johns County, the January 2012 “occupancy growth” for area lodging was 14.5% more than last year, based on information compiled by staff at St Augustine, Ponte Vedra and the Beaches Visitors and Convention Bureau.

In 2011, occupancy grew 6.9% over 2010. The average daily room rate also increased 3.7% to continue a 12-month trend of rising rates.

“The lodging industry and VCB Team continued to pile on the growth in January with numbers not seen since January 2008 — before the recession took hold,” said Richard Goldman, Executive Director of the VCB. “We need to build on this growth as we approach spring and what the pundits are warning could be a gas price driven flattening of the travel business.”

BY THE NUMBERS:

January Occupancy was +14.5% (+3.2% for 12 months)

Average Rate was +3.7% to $94.70 (+4.1% for 12 months to $100.96)

Revenue Per Available Room was +18.7%(+7.4% for 12 months)

Rooms Sold was +14.4% in January (+2.5% for 12 months)

Room Revenue was +18.7% (+6.7% for 12 months)

(Data: Figures based on 42 reporting properties)

Photo credits: © 2012 Historic City News staff photographer