Rogers Hotels on Pace to Double 2002 Revenue With Added Rooms

(Click here to see the list of the region’s largest hotels.)

Northwest Arkansas hotel owners have stepped up to the plate to serve the more than 2.1 million visitors to Benton and Washington counties each year.

Of the 47 propertiess in the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s list of top hotels, 34 were built since 1990.

The 2002 estimated gross revenue for the 47 largest hotels in the market was $57.83 million. That’s a 13.8 percent increase from 2001’s $50.81 million.

Those hotels have a combined 4,103 rooms with an average estimated gross revenue of $14,095 per room.

Of the four big cities, Fayetteville was the top grosser in hotel revenue with an estimated $17.13 million in 2002 for hotels generating $270,000 or more. Springdale and Bentonville battled for the No. 2 spot, with Springdale at an estimated $15.42 million and Bentonville’s estimated gross revenue for hotels at $15.41 million.

The Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism reports that nearly $379 million was generated in travel expenditures in Benton and Washington counties in 2002. Travel generated 6,728 jobs in the two counties that year, and local governments collected nearly $4 million in taxes from travel-generated business in 2002, according to the parks & tourism department’s annual report.

Rogers Adds Rooms, Revenue

The city of Rogers is really fluffing the guest pillows this year.

The Benton County city had estimated revenue of $7.6 million for its 11 hotels in 2002.

The city collected $29,241 for its 2 percent bed tax in June, which reflects a little more than $1.46 million for that month alone. And that’s more than double the estimated gross revenue of $708,000 for June 2002.

The estimated gross revenue for Rogers hotels for the first six months of this year was $5.2 million. If the city’s hotels continue to collect $1.46 million monthly, they could bring in an estimated $14 million this year, nearly doubling last year’s revenue. And that revenue may be $17.5 million or more in 2004.

The city’s second-biggest earner, Amerisuites, built in 2002, only contributed to last year’s totals for less than 10 months.

The Embassy Suites, which opened May 15, has quickly become the city’s biggest earner, with $1.41 million in estimated revenue in it’s first 45 days. According to records of the Rogers Advertising and Promotion Commission, June proved to be the biggest month the city has had in bed-tax collections.

Those earnings might have affected other suite-oriented hotels in the city slightly. According to city tax records, the Amerisuites and Candlewood Suites estimated earnings in June are slightly less than last year’s.

Bethany Stephens, Rogers director of advertising and promotions, said the city is very excited about its booming hotel industry.

“Basically we do attribute that to all the great new hotels we’ve had come up in the last three to 24 months,” Stephens said.

“The demand is there and the business is there. We have no trouble staying full, particularly on the weekends.”

The Embassy Suites opened this year. The Amerisuites Suites and the Fairfield Inn & Suites both opened in 2002, and Candlewood Suites opened in 2001.

Stephens said the relatively young Rogers A&P Commission is focused on attracting weekend tourist traffic now. Business travelers keep the hotels full during the week. Revenues are likely to continue increasing for the city next year. An 86-room Residence Inn by Marriott is expected to open by Dec. 31.

John Q. Hammons also plans to break ground next year on a Marriott Hotel & Convention Center in Pinnacle Hills (see story, p. 1) that will greatly add to the estimated 23,416 SF of hotel convention space in the city now.

Stephens said she’s not concerned the market will be oversaturated in Rogers. As more rooms have become available, she said, the city’s visitors have increased without fail.

Fayetteville Tops List

Thirteen Fayetteville hotels made it on the Business Journal’s list this year, earning a total of $17.13 million, up 5.3 percent over last year’s earnings of $16.27 million. But Fayetteville’s numbers include revenue generated by food sales at the hotel. The city’s hotel/motel/restaurant tax also applies to hotel food service and catering, and most Fayetteville hotel owners don’t report room revenue separately from food revenue.

Also, not all the Fayetteville hotels on the list contributed to the revenue increase.

Last year’s revenue for the Fayetteville Super 8 on Shiloh Drive is down 11.1 percent from 2001, according to tax information provided by the city. The hotel revenue totaled an estimated $640,000 in 2002 and $720,000 in 2001. Two other Fayetteville hotels on the list had revenue decreases of less than 2 percent. All other hotels listed had increases.

Downtown’s Radisson Hotel had a 10.4 percent jump in revenue. Second on the list of top hotels, the Radisson’s estimated revenue topped $3.51 million in 2002, up from $3.18 million in 2001.

David McGeady, manager, said the hotel is “right on target” to earn well more than $4 million this year. McGeady said the hotel works hard to attract groups and conventions to its facility.

“We’re looking at a nice increase over last year,” he said.

The Ramada Inn on North College Avenue is one of the oldest hotels on this year’s list, but gained the biggest increase in 2002 for Fayetteville. Revenue of an estimated $550,000 in 2001 increased 14.5 percent to $630,000 in 2002.

The Red Roof Inn at 1000 Futrall Drive had a 12.8 percent jump for the year.

Carolyn Hancock, Red Roof Inn’s manager, said the hotel was completely remodeled in 2000 and 2001 and that has helped draw in visitors. She also believes the location at 1000 Futrall Drive, just east of Interstate 540 near the Sixth Street exit, helps attract visitors.

“We’re one of the closest hotels to the university, and that’s a big plus,” Hancock said.

Everybody’s Up

The top 11 hotels in Springdale, which includes all hotels with $270,000 or more in revenue, enjoyed nearly a 20 percent increase in revenue between 2001 and 2002. Tax records show the city collected $15.42 million from those hotels in 2002 for its 1.5 percent hotel/motel tax, and $12.91 million in 2001.

Hotels in Bentonville had a total increase of 4.4 percent in 2002 over 2001 revenue, according to the city’s hotel tax information. Total revenue was an estimated $15.41 million for the city’s top 11 hotels in 2002, and $14.76 million in 2001.

The Bentonville Clarion Hotel & Convention Center enjoyed the biggest increase in that city in 2002, and it was less than 2.5 percent.

Hotels in Siloam Springs haven’t fared as well. The city’s top three hotels’ total revenue is estimated at $1.57 million for 2002, down from an estimated $1.58 million in 2001, according to the city’s tax records.

One of the hotels, the Holiday Inn Express, had a slight increase of 4.4 percent in revenue, while the others saw decreases in revenue.

Revenue by the Room

According to records, Bentonville’s hotels earn the most revenue per room. Bentonville hotels collected an average of $16,677 per room in 2002, based on city hotel tax records.

Bentonville’s top 11 hotels have 924 rooms.

Fayetteville had the most rooms among its top hotels — 1,408 rooms between its 13 top grossers. Those hotels made an average of $12,166 per room. But, again, Fayetteville’s tax collections, which the estimated revenue is based on, includes food revenue.

Springdale hotel rooms were the second-biggest money earners. The 934 rooms in the top 11 hotels in the city had an average revenue of $16,509.

The 651 rooms in the eight Rogers hotels on the list averaged $11,137 in revenue.

The city’s new Embassy Suites, which isn’t on the list because it opened this year, made $2,716 on average for each of its 248 rooms in June alone. Multiplied over 12 months, that would be $32,592 in revenue per room for the year, surpassing estimated revenue per room for the Hilton Garden Inn in Bentonville, which had $28,043 per room last year.

The top three hotels in Siloam Springs have a total of 138 rooms and averaged $11,377 in revenue per room in 2002.