From the fourth quarter of 2000 to the same period last year, RevPAR declined 35% for Boston, which is the second largest decline in the country. Only San Francisco--with 40%--experienced a greater decline in that time period. Petros Sivitanides, a senior economist at Torto Wheaton, attributes the staggering decrease in demand to the continued effects of the terror attacks, especially on business travelers. "There is still a stigma effect Sept. 11 created on travel," he tells GlobeSt.com.

The occupancy rates for this area are a further indication that the impacts of the terror attacks are still lingering. Those rates decreased 15.7% from the fourth quarter of last year to the fourth quarter of this year, a " huge decrease" according to Sivitanides. The number of occupied rooms decreased 17% in that time period as well.

Full service lodging facilities were more severely affected by the attacks as indicated by that segment of the market's drop in RevPAR by 35.7% in the last year as opposed to the limited service segment, which experienced a 29.3% decline. Sivitanides points out that business travelers make up the major portion of the full service market and they are more dependent on air travel. Room rates fell in both segments of the market: in the full service segment they dropped 17.5% from the fourth quarter of last year to the fourth quarter of this year while the rates dropped 11% in that same time period for the limited service market.