CARIBBEAN: Caribbean Hotel Occupancy Shows Slight Drop

Caribbean hotel occupancy dropped last month for the first time since April 2014.

The region’s hotel industry ended a streak of 15 months of consecutive positive year-over-year increases in hotel occupancy in August, with a drop of 0.4 percent to 68.1 percent, according to the latest report from STR Inc. The region’s average daily rate rose, however, increasing to $193.70, a jump of 5.2 percent, last month.

RevPAR, or revenue per available room, rose 4.8 percent to $131.95. For the year to date, Caribbean hotel occupancy stands at 73 percent, an increase of 2.7 percent over the first eight months of 2014. STR Inc.’s reports surveyed 1,917 hotels comprising 230,077 rooms in the wider Caribbean region.