STR reports improved July results for area hotels

Hotel occupancy and room rates in Miami-Dade County and Broward County increased in July, compared to the same month last year.

Travel industry research firm STR reported that Miami-Dade hotels had a 78 percent occupany rate in July, a rise of nearly 4 percentage points from July 2014.

Miami-Dade’s average daily room rates topped $155 a night in July, an increase of approximately 5 percent from July 2014.

William Talbert, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, credited the addition of new airline service and a program to promote spa treatments. “July was a good month, and we expect August to continue it,” he said.

Broward’s hotel occupancy in July was about 78 percent, or 3.6 percentage points higher than a year earlier. Daily room rates averaged $109, up 5 percent.

“We are experiencing our best summer on record,” Nicki Grossman, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, said, crediting new airline service and major events such as recent National Urban League convention in Fort Lauderdale.

STR also reported a July hotel occupancy rate of 84 percent in the Florida Keys, about 1 percentage point higher than in July 2014, and an average daily room rate of nearly $247 a night, up 8 percent from a year earlier. [Miami Herald] – Mike Seemuth