August 28, 2009
Windsor is a great place to rent a hotel room these days — but apparently a bad place to own one.
A new report by Hotwire.com, a discount travel website, lists the top 10 Canadian cities with the largest reduction in hotel prices.
Windsor placed eighth, with a 10 per cent drop in prices over last year. It doesn’t match the 21 per cent drop in Quebec City and Victoria, but it still indicates tourism is hurting.
“From the perspective of profitability, it’s not a great list to be on,” Lynnette Bain, general manager of the Holiday Inn Select on Huron Church Road, said Thursday. “As far as creating a bit of exposure for the city, I guess any press is a good thing.
“But what I’ve really seen is rates being driven down in the city and the occupancy staying flat or below last year.”
The Canadian Hotwire Hotel Rate Report, indicates that booking a three-star hotel online for a night in Windsor now starts at $84.
Gord Orr, managing director for the local convention and visitors bureau, sees the Hotwire report as generally positive.
“It’s not a bad top 10 list to be on because it helps raise awareness and the profile of the city of Windsor,” Orr said. “From the standpoint that we’re more affordable, it is not a bad thing.”
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Orr said average room prices in July were about $100 compared to $105 in July 2008.
Worse, however, is the occupancy rate which he said fell about nine per cent from last year.
The average hotel in Windsor is now only about 48 per cent booked, compared to more than 60 per cent in Windsor’s tourism heyday.
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