Springfield hotel occupancy ends 2013 up 6%

Springfield hotels ended 2013 on a high note – the second most active since the Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau began tracking occupancy in 1990.

Annual room sales grew 6.2 percent to $85.19 million, after December posted a 3.5 percent bump to $5.27 million, and hotel occupancy also climbed 6 percent to 55.2 percent occupied in 2013, according to a report to the CVB board last month.

For the year, Springfield hotels reported 1.19 million occupied rooms, second only to 1.21 million in 2007, when an ice storm increased occupancy to unprecedented numbers in the first quarter.

According to the CVB, each month last quarter was a record in occupancy.

“This is particularly good news since we have gone through the deepest recession since the Great Depression,” CVB President Tracy Kimberlin said.

Revenue per available room marked the largest annual growth, carving out a 7.6 percent increase to $39.19 per room. The average daily rate remained in the $70 range, finishing the year at $70.99, up slightly from last year.

Room supply shrunk by 1.3 percent for the year to 2.17 million rooms available.

Two hotels under construction in the city are slated to bring a couple hundred rooms on line this year. A Hampton Inn at Battlefield Road and Highway 65 is going up ahead of a TownePlace Suites by Marriott adjacent to Mercy Hospital Springfield.