Jacksonville hotels - including Hyatt, Holiday Inn and Sheraton - are suffering from recession more than others in Florida - Jacksonville Business Journal:

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“It’s like 9/11 on steroids,” said Donals Harris, past president of the . “The thing is, there’s no end in sight.” Industrt reports project the lodginbg industry will not be out of its recessiohn for16 months, Harris said, with a big drop in businesas travel largely to blame. Harris is also directod of food and beverage operationsfor , whic h operates several hotels in Northeast Floridq including the Holiday Inn Jacksonvilles Airport hotel. The downturn has forced nearly every hotel into a hiring freeze and many have laid off Hoteliers expect increased acquisitions of existing hotels that are strugglingy financiallythis year.
And projects not already built will be halted primarily becauseof bankers’ reluctance to offedr financing. Hoteliers tend to comparse this downturn to that of because beginning inSeptember 2008, tourism dropped almost instantly. “We’res all chasing the same dollar and no one is reallgspending money,” Harris said. The Holiday Inn Jacksonville Airport laid off employees and is in ahiring freeze. Many including upscale resorts, are slashing rates and offering packages to get peopls attheir hotel, even if it is not enough to generates profitability.
Sileshi Mengiste, managing directore of the One Oceajn Resort Hotel and Spa atAtlantic Beach, said the hotell is offering “value packages” such as addingf breakfast, parking and airport transportation. The averagde daily room rate in Jacksonvilledecreased 0.3 percenf to $93.35 in 2008 compared with the previous according to global hotel data provider Miami, Orlando and Tamps all had increases in dail y rates. One Ocean built up its sales and marketinv staff to aggressively target Georgia andSoutj Florida, but Mengiste said the hotel has been in a hirinb freeze since September and is cross-training employees.
Harrise said the newer hotels such as the Hyatt PlacewJacksonville Airport, which MMI Hotel manages will have a harder time in this downtur because they are still tryinvg to gain a market share. “Fo r a new hotel considering the economic timesare tough,” said Ray Smith, generap manager of the Sheraton Jacksonvillr Hotel, which opened on the Southside in July. “There are certainlt better timesto open, but I don’t think we could have pickerd a better place.” According to local tourismm agency Visit Jacksonville, about eight hotel s are planned to open this despite the downturn.
Two have already the Hyatt Place and Hotel Indigo at Tapestrt Park onthe Southside. “It’s not an optio n to finish construction and leave the door saidHank Fonde, a partner with LLC and president of The compant will manage a dual-branded hotel that San Marco Hotelk owns near the Southbanik at Kings Avenue Station. It is schedulef to open June 1. The 221-room part Hilton Garden Inn and part Homewood Suites building is near Fonde hopes that the dual brand and being the newest in the area willgeneratee demand. Fonde said five othe hotel projects in the area have been placed on hold mainlty becauseof financing.
Existing hotelieras have argued that the area is overbuiltwith hotels, which generate s competition for lower rates and therefore lower A hotel needs at least a 70 percent occupancy rate to be but that depends on the room With rates so low, hotels need highefr occupancies than normal, Fonde Jacksonville’s room supply increased 5.2 percent in 2008 the highest in the state — while demansd dropped 2.6 percent and room revenue from the rooms that were sold fell 2.9 according to Smith Travel Research.
Theree are indicators that occupancy will fall an additional 6 percent to 8 percentgthis quarter, but Harris said, “ I think it’s a lot worse than what most peopled think.”