Christopher Boyd writes:
"We are starting to see the effects of the marketing campaign," said Greg Hauenstein, general manager of the Lake Buena Vista Palace hotel. "We have also seen group travel remain strong. And we had no major storms . . ., which has taken away a bit of the concern people have about coming here."
Abe Pizam, dean of the University of Central Florida's Rosen College of Hospitality Management, said increases in Orange County resort-tax collections in late 2007 provide evidence that the lodging industry is in an upswing. But he said 2008 is full of unknowns.
"We have been doing relatively well, and some properties have been doing very well," Pizam said. "Will that continue . . .? Who knows?"
Hotel-room occupancy rates were hovering at about 65 percent in Metro Orlando late last year, according to monthly studies by Smith Travel Research. Those surveys don't include Walt Disney World hotels, which are generally thought to have even higher occupancy levels.
Pizam said the first two quarters of this year show every sign of remaining strong for the hotel business, but he said energy costs, price inflation and the ever-looming threat of terrorist attacks are wild cards.
"Tourism rises and falls on discretionary dollars, and nothing eats away at discretionary money as fast as inflation," Pizam said.
Pizam said inflation would probably hurt middle-market hotels the most. He said the region's growing number of luxury hotels is in a better position to withstand economic difficulties.
"Very-high-end hotels aren't so sensitive to economic factors," Pizam said. "They would not be as much affected. But hotels in the middle would take it the hardest."
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