Salt Lake County hotels filled fewer rooms nightly last month than in October 2009, the first decline in year-over-year figures since February. Despite a 1.4 percent drop in Salt Lake, which accounts for almost half of the rooms counted in the monthly survey, the statewide occupancy average for October was up 1.8 percent from a year earlier, to 59.5 percent.
Improved showings by Utah mountain resorts, St. George hotels and lodging establishments outside Utah’s metropolitan areas were able to more than offset the business slowdown in Salt Lake, according to figures from the Denver-based Rocky Mountain Lodging Report. St. George had a solid month in October, filling 70.4 percent of its rooms nightly at an average rate of $82.25. A year ago, only 64 percent of rooms were occupied each night for roughly the same amount of money. Salt Lake Tribune
