Sacramento, Calif., Hotel Occupancy Rises in March

By Andrew LePage, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

May 18–Sacramento hotels are staying fuller than most in Northern California this year thanks to a steady flow of business related to government and statewide associations.

In March, the average occupancy rate for Sacramento-area hotels and motels rose to 79.4 percent, up from 72 percent a year earlier, according to the latest survey by PKF Consulting, a hospitality industry research firm.

Sacramento’s average daily room rate rose to $92.76 in March, up from $88.04 a year earlier.

Sacramento-area hotels are benefiting from the stabilizing impact of a steady flow of visitors doing business with the state government — a trend that’s intensified with the recent shift in administrations at the Capitol, says PKF analyst Kenneth Kuchman.

He said Sacramento also is getting a big boost from many association meetings scheduled for Northern California this year — and scheduled for Southern California next year. Many statewide associations switch venues from one end of the state to the other annually.

Sacramento’s average March occupancy rate was by far the highest for any of nine submarkets in the northern half of the state. The second-highest was 73 percent for the portion of the Central Valley that spans from Modesto to Fresno, while the lowest occupancy rate was 58.2 percent in the Napa/Sonoma area, PKF said.

Sacramento hotels also saw Northern California’s highest average occupancy rate — 71.3 percent — during the first three months of this year.

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