The State of California represents a powerhouse within the U.S hospitality industry and we would like to take this opportunity to provide an overview of the state’s key markets during the current challenging operating environment.
The outlook for the lodging market in Santa Barbara is fairly sunny. As a whole, the Santa Barbara–Santa Maria area finished 2001 at 68.2% occupancy, only 2.2 percentage points down from its 70.4% occupancy finish in 2000.
Prior to the events of September 11th, the market was performing at levels on par with 2000; however, since September 11th the market occupancy declined somewhat.
In 2001, the Monterey market area felt the effects and aftershocks of many of the same events that caused occupancies to plummet in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.