Miami hotels keep up with global competitors

Despite several high-profile properties in serious distress, an analysis by The Real Deal shows that Miami can take some comfort in the relative success of its hotel market.  

The Real Deal took stock of how Miami hotels compare to 25 major international and U.S. cities, from London to Los Angeles.

It turns out that Miami hotel rooms ranked 15th in revenue per room, earning more per each hotel room than 10 of the world’s major tourist centers, topping Beijing, Chicago, Los Angeles and Mexico City, to name a few.

The Miami-Hialeah hotel market earns around $91.78 per room in revenue, compared to $73.46 for L.A. and just $47.82 for Beijing, looking at the year 2009, according to data from STR Global. Miami also beat out the major players in Latin America. Sao Paolo had revenue of $54.84 per room last year, and Mexico City’s was $54.00.  

The global leader is Abu Dhabi, with $201.50 in revenue per room.

The area also beat out several major U.S. and international cities in hotel occupancy for 2009. Miami’s 65.2 percent occupancy rate for 2009 beat out Chicago, Washington, D.C., L.A. and Moscow. It also proved particularly resilient. All but two of the 25 cities surveyed lost guests from 2008, but Miami’s 8.6 percent drop in 2009 was still better than 10 of them.

Hotels in Miami continue to expand despite the downturn, from the large-scale JW Marriott Marquis to the 14-room Prime Hotel.  There has been some bad news, however, as hotels such as the Shore Club, the Sagamore and the Carlton Hotel have all been in foreclosure actions.

South Florida’s hotel occupancy has generally continued to rise in the first six months of this year. At the end of May, Miami-Dade County’s hotel occupancy was at 68.4 percent, although that was a drop for the same month in 2009. That data includes areas not covered in the Miami-Hialeah analysis by STR.