Sonoma County hotel room rates rise in May

The price of a Sonoma County hotel room rose 4.2 percent in May from a year earlier, the smallest monthly increase since the October wildfires sent the lodging sector into overdrive.

Last month the average room cost $192.72, travel research company STR reported Thursday. The average occupancy rate for May was 82.6 percent, compared to 78.6 percent a year ago.

For the first five months of 2018, hotel revenue has increased 19.4 percent from a year earlier to $124.5 million.

Room rates have climbed?42.6 percent since May 2013, when the average was $135.18.

STR last month tracked results for 6,283 hotel rooms in the county, down from 6,647 in September.

The wildfires burned three hotels in the county, and fire survivors soon filled the remaining lodging properties in a scramble to gain temporary housing.

Robert Digitale