The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, April 8 that hospitality consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers will soon release data that shows a dramatic recovery in the battered hotel market.
PricewaterhouseCoopers had predicted in February that the revenue per available room, the standard measure of hotel guest room prices and occupancy, would fall 1.1 percent in 2002. But that forecast has now been revised to positive territory and a rise of 3 percent is expected. The firm predicts that ADR (average daily rates) will grow this year by 1 percent and that occupancies will increase 1.2 percentage points over 2001 to 61.3 percent.
But while a gradual economic recovery has boosted vacation travel and individual business travel, hotels report less business from large meetings and incentives. They are altering their marketing strategies to attract weekend leisure business and small business meetings, says PricewaterhouseCoopers.