South Florida Hotels Report Hefty April

Florida Keys hotels broke their tourist-season slump in April, with both room rates and revenues showing strong gains over a year ago.

The average Keys visitor paid 22 percent more for a room ($207 a night) than in April 2005, while the overall occupancy rate climbed two points to a healthy 81 percent, according to Smith Travel Research.

That´s a far stronger showing than in previous months, when high nightly rates depressed occupancy levels to the point that hotels generated less revenue per room than in the previous year.

“January through March was fairly flat,” said Ursula Boll, vice president of marketing for the Hawk´s Cay Resort. “April was record breaking.”

Hotels in South Florida´s other tourist destinations also enjoyed a banner April. Miami-Dade hotels saw the average rate increase 11 percent, to $157 a night, while Broward hotels boosted the average rate a full 19 percent over a year ago, to $129 a night. Occupancy held steady in both counties, but per-room revenues grew 10 percent in Miami-Dade and 19 percent in Broward.

The strong April numbers come on the eve of the June 1 start of hurricane season, which has local tourism marketers increasingly nervous.