Omaha hotels are being built tall, small, in an office high-rise, by a mall. They target all types including urban, historical, suburban. And here is the story of Omaha-area hotels. It is a market where construction and conversion of lodging rooms have become widespread than any other building.
The number of hotel rooms has jumped over 16% in the Omaha area. And it took place in the last 5 years only. It is higher than the 7% increase for the U.S. in the same period itself. This information is from STR which is a firm tracking trend in the industry of hospitality.
This year has the highest number of booked hotel rooms so far. It is higher than any of the first six months of the year since at least 2008.
STR firm keeps track of how often hotels are booking by occupancy rate or how they are making full a hotel on an average night. Generally, the area’s occupancy rate is around 62% so far this year. And it is also higher compared with the last few years. However, certain pockets did much better and those occupancy rates at time surpass even 80%.
Challenges intensify for some, anyway.
With a local unemployment rate, which is around 3%, mostly hotel managers will scramble even more for good employees, Tim Darby of Downtown’s upscale Magnolia Hotel said. He is doing right by worrying about keeping a strong workforce even more than occupancy rates these days.
Here are some of the statistics from STR data tracker:
- The Omaha area hotel rooms’ number has increased from 13,018 n 122 properties years ago to 15,091 in 141 properties today, a nearly 16% increase.
- Hotel room revenue has increased annually since at least 2012. This year is on pace to surpass 2017. If looking at the downtown area revenue only, it is up about 27% if compare the first 6 months of 2018 with the same time frame in 2013.
- This year, Omaha area hotel occupancy rate is about 62%, less than the national 66% rate.
