Hoteliers rejoice! Two main measures of the health of the hotel market are both trending upward for downtown Chicago. The new figures from Nashville-based Smith Travel Research, reported yesterday by Crain's, show rises in local occupancy and daily room rates in 2011. Downtown hotels' occupancy rate rose from 69.3% in 2010 to 71.7% last year. The average daily room rate rose 5%, to $171.51. The market, at least downtown, bottomed in 2009. In 2007-08, the average room rate was around $190 with an occupancy of about 75%. 2012 has the makings of a big year, with the G-8 and NATO summits and a supply of new rooms on the way. But no one's sure how that'll all play out. [Crain's]
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