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Vacancy Signs Light Up at Austin, San Antonio Hotels

AUSTIN-It's time for a damage assessment of the Central Texas hotel market. The severe slump isn't all the fault of the Sept. 11 terrorists' attacks, says PKF Consulting's John Keeling. Remember 2000? The presidential election packed 'em in.

By Tim Green | Updated on October 10, 2001

AUSTIN-Hotel occupancy in Austin took a big step down in September from September 2000, dropping to 56.6% from 74.4%. Some of that can be blamed on the travel slowdown following the Sept. 11 attacks, but not all of it.

“The contrast is stark,” says John Keeling of Houston-based PKF Consultants, which compiled the figures, “because you’re comparing an exceptional year with an exceptionally bad year.” Putting the comparison in context, Keeling says, 2000 was an especially good year because “it was a legislative year and the governor was running for president and a lot of folks were coming to Austin for that reason.” It’s practically an apples-to-oranges comparison that was further skewed by this September’s shutdown of the Austin Convention Center for renovations.

The average room rate actually rose to $104.29 last month from $97.47 in 2000, according to PKF. The crucial RevPAR figure, however, tumbled to $55.17 from $72.62. “That’s a 23.9% drop,” Keeling says. “And part of that is because of the increased inventory (of hotel rooms).”

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