Hotels enjoy unexpected boost in third quarter

FRIDAY, JAN. 6: The island’s big hotels enjoyed a welcome boost in revenue and occupancy in the third quarter of 2011.

The total revenue for the hotel industry jumped nearly 20 per cent to $83 million compared to the same period of last year.

While resort hotels experienced a 23 per cent increase in sales revenue thanks to a significant rise in convention visitors.

Chairman of the Bermuda Hotel Association John Harvey welcomed the news as ‘encouraging’ but warned tough times remained ahead.

He told the Bermuda Sun: “The Fairmont hotels got a significant boost from the visit of representatives from insurance giant State Farm which we obviously welcome.

“This in turn led to an increase in revenue as well as more people being employed in the industry.

“We are certainly encouraged by the third quarter statistics, that is good news, but going forward we need to keep attracting the same kind of valuable business.

“Looking at 2012 unfortunately it seems it might not be as good as 2011.

“State Farm has said it will return but not in the same numbers as 2011. These remain difficult times especially when a lot of our business comes from the US which is still experiencing economically hard times.”

In the third quarter of 2011 just over 35,000 guests stayed at the island’s resort hotels.

While between July and September the resort hotels took in $74,865,000 in gross receipts — the highest figure for a quarter since the second quarter of 2008.

In the third quarter hotels employed 2,192 workers, which was 165 more than the same period of 2010.

However the cottage colonies and guest houses did not fare as well as the larger hotels.

Smaller hotels experienced a 6.8 per cent drop in revenue, while cottage colonies saw a decline of 3.6 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2010.

Employment in cottage colonies and housekeeping also decreased by 79 to 440, while the number of workers at guest houses and smaller tourist properties decreased by two to 17.