With August being a “bread and butter” month, a notable increase in occupancy levels and nightly room rates last month was another sign of recovery — albeit a slow one — for the Utah lodging industry. Hotels statewide filled 69.5 percent of their rooms last month, up almost 6 percent from August 2009.
In Salt Lake County, home of roughly half the state’s hotel rooms, the occupancy rate hit 75.7 percent, compared with 66.8 percent a year earlier. Nightly room rates were up, too — almost $4 a night statewide (to $92) and $6 nightly (to $96) in Salt Lake County.
Occupancy numbers were up “in almost all parts of the state. It’s really nice to see Cedar City up at 74 percent occupancy and Davis County at 81 percent.” The Salt Lake Tribune
