Charlotte hotel occupancy rate drops to 46 percent in December

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Charlotte’s hotel occupancy rate fell in December to 46.2 percent from 55 percent in November, but it was up 7.6 percent from December 2009, the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority said today.

For 2010, Charlotte-area occupancy was 57.2 percent, up 11.1 percent over 2009. By comparison, occupancy rose 5.7 percent in the U.S. in 2010 to 57.6 percent and 6.9 percent in North Carolina to 53.8 percent.

With 459,474 rooms sold in December, Charlotte-area room demand rose 9.1 percent compared with December 2009. For 2010, 6.7 million rooms were sold in the Charlotte area, for an increase of 14.2 percent over 2009. By comparison, room demand rose 7.7 percent in the U.S. and 9.3 percent in the state.

The Charlotte-area average daily rate was $77.14 in December, up 4.4 percent from December 2009, resulting in six straight months of rate improvements. The average daily rate refers to the average room rate for any given hotel room in the market, encompassing all chain scales.

For 2010, the ADR was $80.66 for the Charlotte area, down 0.4 percent from 2009.

Charlotte-area revenue per available room was $35.67 in December, up 12.4 percent over December 2009. It’s the 11th consecutive month of increases. For 2010, the figure was $46.11, up 10.6 percent from 2009.