Forecast of 3.12 Million Occupied Rooms Per Night Represents an Increase of 2.5 Percent Over 2006
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the U.S. lodging industry will achieve a new record number of occupied rooms per night - 3.12 million - this Labor Day weekend. The previous Labor Day weekend record of 3.08 million occupied rooms per night was achieved in 2004. However, PricewaterhouseCoopers forecasts the Labor Day weekend occupancy in 2007 will be almost unchanged at 69.1 percent compared to the 69.0 percent occupancy during the 2006 Labor Day weekend.
This forecast is based on the year-to-date performance of the U.S. lodging industry as well as performance during the Memorial Day and July Fourth weekends. Based on Smith Travel Research data, occupancies for the Memorial Day and July Fourth weekends were 72.0 percent and 68.8 percent, approximately 2.6 percent and 0.5 percent below PricewaterhouseCoopers' forecast. Lower occupancy performance was primarily due to increased gasoline prices as well as consumers' increasing price resistance following average daily rate increases of approximately 5.5 percent and 7.1 percent in 2005 and 2006, respectively, based on Smith Travel Research data.
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