CVB: Springfield hotel room sales continue rise

The Queen City lodging industry continued its upward trajectory through October, according to the latest data from the Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau.

During October, room sales totaled $8.7 million, a 6.3 percent increase over $8.2 million in the same month a year ago. Through the month, year-to-date sales exceeeded $79 million, up 8 percent from $73.5 million in the same time period of 2013. The average daily rate jumped to $77.66 in October from $71.45 a year earlier, bringing the yearly average to $75.41 from $71.33 in 2013.

According to the CVB, the occupancy rate moved up to 63.5 percent in October from 63.1 percent a year ago, bringing the year-to-date rate to 62.1 percent - up from 56.7 percent at the same time last year.

Room supply and demand were down in October.

The Springfield market had 175,646 available rooms during the month, down from 180,668 a year ago. For the year through October, room supply totaled 1.7 million, down from 1.8 million.

The CVB reports room demand dropped to 111,577 in October from 114,064 in the same month a year earlier. However, year-to-date room demand was 1.05 million, up from 1.03 million in the same period a year earlier.

Flying up
In a newsletter last week, the CVB released traffic figures for Springfield-Branson National Airport.

The data show traffic increases in every month this year through November. During November, there were 76,487 enplanements and deplanements, up from 61,571 a year earlier.

Through November, year-to-date traffic totaled 777,081 at the airport, up 11.7 percent from 695,764 in the same period of 2013.