L.A. hotel rates, occupancy down in October

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Los Angeles hotels charged less and had more empty rooms in October than a year earlier, an industry report shows.

The average daily rate at hotels in Los Angeles County for October was $140.84, down 13.4% from the same month in 2008, reported PKF Consulting, a hospitality research firm. Average occupancy was 73.1%, down from 76.3% a year earlier.

The steepest rate drop was in Beverly Hills, where prices slipped to an average of $331.53 a night -- a 17.8% decline. Still, Beverly Hills had the highest hotel rates in the county, said the PKF report, released Friday.

The cheapest place in Los Angeles County to find a room is what the firm calls the “I-5 Corridor/Whittier” area, where rates averaged $89.27 in October.

Occupancy has fallen the most in Long Beach, where just 65.3% of rooms were filled in October, down from 72.2% -- a 9.6% drop.

Larger hotels seemed to reduce rates more than smaller ones, the report indicated. Those with more than 600 rooms dropped rates 13.3% in October, compared with a reduction of just 8.9% by hotels with fewer than 100 rooms.

-- Scott J. Wilson