Concerns about the troubled global economy?s impact on tourism have prompted local hoteliers to substantially discount room rates and bolster customer loyalty programs.
But B.C.?s largest city is faring better than the rest of the province when it comes to attracting tourists.
Tourism Vancouver numbers show that during the first eight months of 2011, excluding February, Vancouver attracted 0.02% fewer visitors than in 2010.
February numbers were down substantially in 2011 compared with February 2010 because of the 2010 Olympic Games.
?Hotel occupancy is strong,? said Tourism Vancouver executive vice-president Paul Vallee. ?Until the end of September it?s down about 1% compared with last year at 70% for Metro Vancouver and 75% for downtown Vancouver.?
Among major west coast North American cities, only San Francisco, with its 80% occupancy rate, had a lower hotel vacancy rate than Vancouver?s.
But the Opus Hotel?s John Evans and other hotel owners are still pulling out all the stops to fill their rooms.
Keen to attract Asian business, Evans sent general manager Nicholas Gandossi on Premier Christy Clark?s recent trade mission to China.
Gandossi told Business in Vancouver that he made valuable contacts with tour operators in the world?s most populous nation.
The Opus Hotel has also used the daily deal discount service Groupon Inc. (Nasdaq:GRPN) to attract business – a strategy that some hoteliers frown on because it discounts product by about 50% and then pays Groupon half of all proceeds.
?People have become highly skilled at buying hotel room stays for a lot less money,? Evans said.
?Corporate North America is travelling and doing business, but what we call leisure travel – someone who picks up the phone or books online – there?s just not as much of that kind of travel.?
Evans? boutique hotel has benefited from being across the street from the Canada Line?s Yaletown station. His occupancy is far higher than it was in 2008 and 2009.
He also expects a bit of a boost from being recognized in the influential international travel magazine Conde Nast Traveler?s recent readers? survey as being Metro Vancouver?s fifth most popular hotel, just below No. 4-ranked Shangri-La Hotel Vancouver. According to Conde Nast readers, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts operates Vancouver?s three most popular hotels:
?Fairmont Pacific Rim (No. 1);
?Fairmont Vancouver Airport (No. 2); and
?Fairmont Waterfront (No. 3).
Philip Barnes, Fairmont?s regional vice-president, said his chain?s hotels have a slightly higher occupancy rate than other hotels in the region even though the company doesn?t use Groupon or any other daily deal sites.
?When demand drops, some people think that if they drop their price they will increase demand,? Barnes said.
?It doesn?t always work that way. All that happens is that they end up leaving money on the table.?
Barnes prefers to use programs like the Fairmont President?s Club to attract repeat business. ?
