The Hotel Industry has surely seen a roller coaster ride with Hurricane Katrina. Many Hotels along the Gulf Coast were totally destroyed, many were damaged and others in the aftermath remain totally full. So full in fact that finding a hotel with vacancy within 300 miles is nearly impossible. This is a windfall for the Patel Family; the Indians who are quite industrious and often associated with being sole proprietor hotel owners, it is a family tradition. Most Franchised Hotel Chains and Corporate Hotel Chains are also watching the occupancy rates at 100% meaning we will see very interesting third and fourth quarter results. One hotel chain has lst many hotels and we will not even talk about the tourism industry devastation in Gulfport, Biloxi and the Greater New Orleans area? Some say it may never recover, others are certain it will but it is going to take two or more years. Meanwhile Hurricane Season 2005 is hardly over, in fact we are now in one of the historically typical worst months for Hurricanes and Damage. Many city governments in smaller towns along two-lane routes to and from the Gulf Coast are seeing increases in their budgets due to sales tax at the areas restaurants and the bed taxes, which cities generally add to hotel rooms. Some cities charge as much as 15-20% bed tax and that adds up quickly with rooms vacancy averages at zero available. Other cities in the wake of the disaster are biting the bullet and allowing relaxed bed tax fees in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In Austin TX for instance bed and room tax is waived for all Hurricane victims. The Hotel Industry is one industry, which definitely is affected by this Catastrophic Disaster tearing it in both directions. Record occupancy rates and total losses for those destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. Think on this. |
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