Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels reports that Salt Lake City has sustained hotel occupancy growth after Olympic Games activity, outperforming the trend for Winter Games hosts. History shows that just as winter Olympics hosts experience similar RevPAR peaks during the Olympic year, they also typically sustain valleys the two years post-games.
However, the July occupancy rate of 69.1% brings the city’s occupancy to levels not seen since the Games year, Salt Lake City has embarked on a trend of its own – proving that hotel occupancy can be sustained and debunking the myth that the city is overbuilt. Certainly the national trend towards a recovering hotel sector has supported this movement.
In comparing Salt Lake City’s year-to-date occupancy rate (through July), the current year’s occupancy of 63.5% indicates an unusually strong rebound for the second year following the Olympics – which is not typical for Games hosts, due to the influx of rooms and supply/demand imbalance the build-up typically creates post-games. Salt Lake’s occupancy for 2003 was 60.3%, showing the expected post-Games valley after achieving a 64.1% occupancy for 2002, the Games year, and 61.8% for 2001.
“As an Olympic host, Salt Lake City demonstrated its ability to host major world-class events, and boasts an Olympic legacy of sporting, tourism and municipal infrastructure,” said Melinda McKay, senior vice president of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels. “This, in addition to its status as a growing Delta hub, as well as the site for a growing entertainment complex like Crossroads Plaza Mall that features mainstay retail anchor Nordstrom, provide strong indicators for the city’s tourism and convention industry.”
Earlier this month, Delta airlines announced plans for growing its Salt Lake City operation. With its re-deployment of the company’s Dallas/Ft. Worth assets, Salt Lake City is poised for a higher influx of visitors.
At the end of last month, Nordstrom, Inc. announced its intent with Taubman Centers, Inc., to remain in downtown Salt Lake City as part of a major redesign of Crossroads Plaza Mall. As part of the agreement, Nordstrom has made plans for a new two-level store with approximately 124,000 square feet, tentatively scheduled to open in 2007. The comprehensive redevelopment of Crossroads Plaza Mall and ZCMI Mall will include quality, nationally renowned retail, restaurants and new parking adjacent to Nordstrom. In addition, the mixed-use project will include downtown living, along with the existing office and hotel uses on those blocks.
Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, the world’s leading hotel investment services group, provides clients with value-added investment opportunities and advice. In 2003, its success story includes the sale of 12,429 hotel rooms to the value of US$2.4 billion in 59 cities and advisory expertise on 119,814 rooms to the value of US$18.8 billion across 281 cities. Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels’ services include transactions, mergers and acquisitions, financial advice and capital raising, valuation and appraisal, asset management, strategic planning, operator assessment and selection and industry research. Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE: JLL) is the world’s leading real estate services and investment management firm, operating across more than 100 key markets on five continents.
