Beginning in mid-May and lasting until September, prices of one-night
stays at Palm Beach hotels tend to drop by 50 percent or more from high
season rates. While the trend will continue this year in Palm Beach,
rates are higher than they were last year, due to an increase in
business, profits and occupancy, executives say. David Burke, vice
president of sales and marketing at the Breakers, said the hotel
expects to be up 20 percent over last summer, pointing to more group
bookings that could drive up the hotel’s profits. The new Omphoy hotel
will offer pool-view rooms for $259 during the summer, along with
several hotels offering reduced summer prices. [Palm Beach Daily News]

The luxury Omphoy Ocean Resort, the first oceanfront Palm Beach hotel
to open in 19 years, is a stylistic shift from the stately, venerable
aesthetic of its peers. The 134-room hotel, run by owner-developer
Obadon Hotel Group of West Palm Beach, acknowledged the tough
environment, and area hotel consultant Scott Brush said that will keep
it well positioned when tourism rebounds in 2010. [more]

The luxury hotel rising on the site of the former Palm Beach Hilton is
scheduled to open next month. The Omphoy Ocean Resort will have a final
price tag of $97 million, according to general manager Deborah Carr,
putting developer West Palm Beach-based Ceebraid-Signal’s costs at
$724,000 a room. Guy Trusty, president of Lodging & Hospitality
Realty in Coral Gables, said that puts the hotel’s financial future in
doubt, but for now, the resort plans to hire 150 workers for its
134-room resort. [more]