Rogers Bed Tax Growth Flattens Late in 2008

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(To see a comparision of hotel revenues in Rogers between 2007 and 2008, click here.)

For the first time, Rogers has seen a negative year-over-year amount of revenue from its hotel tax.

In October, at the height of the financial crisis, hotel tax receipts for Rogers declined by 2.7 percent despite the presence of five hotels that weren’t open in October 2007.

Collections rebounded in November with a 6.3 percent increase year-over-year that is likely even larger given that Staybridge, Microtel and Super 8 haven’t yet remitted payments for the month.

Embassy Suites, as usual, is the top hotel for the area but it has seen some steep revenue declines this year as well.

A year after it opened a new 150-room addition and spa, the Embassy Suites posted year-over-year declines of 2.5 percent, 20 percent and 21 percent in the months of August-October.

For hotels open in Rogers for at least one year, revenue was down 20 percent overall. The five new hotels contributed 17.7 percent of total revenue for October.

The Embassy decline contributed to year-over-year overall average monthly revenue growth of just 2.8 percent from August-November. If that keeps up into 2009, Rogers will see its first year of less than double-digit growth in hotel revenue. Rogers began collecting the tax in 2000.

Since opening in July, the Aloft has been among the top three hotels in room revenue. Its room revenue increased by an average monthly rate of 14.3 percent for its first four months in business. In November, Aloft revenue slipped from $498,900 to $348,500, a decline of 30 percent from October.

In the first 11 months of 2008 compared to 2007, however, Rogers’ hotel tax revenue is up a healthy 13 percent. From 2006 to 2007, Rogers’ bed tax revenue increased by 22 percent.