"Cumulative collections this fiscal year are 6% ahead of cumulative collections for last fiscal year, as well as 4% above budget projections," says Orange County comptroller Martha O. Haynie whose office monitors the monthly collections of the 5% tax on the area's 116,575 hotel and motel rooms. The monthly collection numbers are watched closely by real estate developers, lenders and appraisers as a key barometer of the local hospitality industry's health.
Haynie watches the collections even more closely to make sure the county's annual bond payments of $78 million are met. The bonds were issued to pay for the $750 million expansion last year of the two million sf of exhibition space at the 35-year-old Orange County Convention Center.
The county took in $93.4 million in resort tax collections in 2003; $91.6 million in 2002; $104.8 million in 2001; and $108.2 million in 2000, its best year since collections began in 1979.
Although small hotels and motels (under 100 rooms) along US 192 leading to the entrance to Walt Disney World report they still suffer from occupancy rates below 50%, other larger properties are preparing for new growth periods, industry consultants tell GlobeSt.com. For example, the eight-year-old, 1,218-room Caribe Royale All-Suites Resort and Convention Center in Lake Buena Vista, FL will be starting a multi-million-dollar renovation of all its rooms this year. The Caribe just completed a $30-million expansion of meeting space, doubling the meeting area to 150,000 sf.
The Caribe and neighbor Buena Vista Suites both booked strong Christmas holiday numbers, the hotels' management reports. Both properties are owned by California hotelier Don Freeberg, president and CEO of Sierra Land Group.
Nearby, Walt Disney World plans to reopen the 1,080-room French Quarter section of its 3,128-room Port Orleans Resort March 21. Disney closed the 13-year-old French Quarter in May 2003 when it began a two-year renovation of Port Orleans, which includes the 2,048-room, 12-year-old Riverside hotel section.
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