Hotels See Strongest Bookings In 12 Years

Nationwide hotel occupancy rates in 1994 reached their highest levels since 1982, with a 9 percent increase in room sales, according to the spring 1995 edition of the JK&A Hospitality Report. JK&A is a Federal Way, Wash.-based consultant firm for the hospitality industry.

In the Northwest, hotels in Alaska achieved the healthiest improvement in room sales with a 12 percent gain. Hotels in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana improved from 1993 to 1994, but the increases were below the national average.

The below average improvement is likely attributable to the a dramatic decline in Canadian visitors that accompanied the decreased value of the Canadian dollar, according to JK&A’s quarterly report.

Also, increased accessibility of financing - regardless of interest rates - increased competition in the Northwest as developers built new hotels. JK&A predicted that competition in 1995 would remain intense; industry analysts forecasted that average occupancy rates will exceed 70 percent by 1996, spurring a minor hotel boom.