Sonoma County hotels see smallest growth since wildfires

Sonoma County’s hotel sector, which enjoyed double-digit growth for most of the year, saw revenues increase less than 2 percent in July, the smallest change since the October wildfires.

Last month’s average room rate of $198.07 increased 3.5 percent from a year earlier, travel research company STR reported Tuesday. The occupancy rate declined slightly to 83.2 percent from 83.8 percent in July 2017.

STR last month tracked results for 6,485 hotel rooms in the county, down from 6,647 in September 2017. One month later, wildfires burned three hotels in the county, and fire survivors quickly filled the remaining lodging properties in a scramble for temporary housing.

Even with July’s slowdown, the hotel sector has posted its best year to date since 2013. For the first seven months of 2018, revenue increased 14.4 percent from a year earlier to nearly $190 million.

Robert Digitale