Business Report
Hotels in downtown Baton Rouge are propping up the occupancy rate for lodging parishwide while raking in more revenue per room than their local counterparts.
While it may not be surprising that downtown hotels are outperforming the parish average, given the higher prices and the social and cultural amenities concentrated downtown, the data indicates downtown is the “face of the community” for many travelers, including those considering a permanent move, writes Jake Polansky with the Baton Rouge Area Chamber.
“An attractive downtown, with its high density of restaurants, bars, and other fun things to do will play a strong role in convincing young 20-somethings to stay here after graduation,” he says. “And when out-of-region talent flies into the Capital Region for a weekend to decide if this is a place they want to call home—well, we can make a good guess where they’ll be staying.”
- For most of 2022, downtown hotels had occupancy rates that were on average almost 12 percentage points higher than the average for all hotels in East Baton Rouge.
- The largest difference came in June when downtown hotels boasted a 77% average occupancy rate compared to 61% for all EBR hotels.
Downtown hotels also generate more revenue per available room (or revPAR), which is the “gold standard” for measuring hotel performance, Polansky says.
- From September through November last year, downtown hotels’ monthly average revenue per room ranged from $42 to $56 higher than the parish average.
- Like with occupancy, the revPAR of all hotels includes downtown hotels, which means hotels downtown are propping up the Baton Rouge average.
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