Nov. 1, 2003 - WILLIAMSBURG, Va.--Tourist numbers are thin, hotels are half-empty and hotel occupancy rates in the Williamsburg area are falling faster than in any other market in the state.

Yet, another hotel is on its way.

Williamsburg's Architectural Review Board is reviewing plans for a new Hampton Inn and Suites, to be on Capitol Landing Road. A four-story brick hotel is proposed for a site between the Quality Inn Lord Pagett and the Colonel Waller Motel.

Hotel owners are competing for business now, but local hotel owner Ratnam Patel says the hotel that he wants to build meets a niche in the market: families looking for suites.

Patel owns the Hampton Inn and Suites on Richmond Road and the Econo Lodge on Richmond Road.

"In the summertime, families like to have a suite," Patel said.

Patel said that plans for the hotel were in the early stages and that he was unsure on when the hotel would be built.

By then, demand for rooms might be back on the upswing, said Ernie Young, president of the Williamsburg Hotel Motel Association and general manager of the Quality Inn Lord Pagett.

"We're hoping that as things rebound, business will pick up and demand will pick up, so having newer properties in town is a good thing, in that sense," Young said.

"But anytime you have new supply when business is down, it's going to take away from the pie a little bit," he added.

Hampton Inn is part of the Hilton Hotels Corp., which manages or franchises more than 2,000 hotels under the Doubletree, Hampton Inn and Embassy Suites names. Hilton officials could not be reached for comment Friday.

Mario Mageras, general manager of the Hampton Inn on York Street, said his property would remain a Hampton Inn for at least the next couple of years.

One hotel after another sits on Williamsburg's main streets, but growth in hotel supply in the area has been relatively flat up to now, said Doug Pons, general manager of The Quarterpath Inn and a past president of the Williamsburg Hotel-Motel Association.

"The trend has been, certainly along Richmond Road, that when a new hotel is built, it replaced an older property," Pons said.

That hasn't helped occupancy. According to third-quarter figures from Smith Travel Research, Williamsburg hotels have had the greatest decline this year in both room occupancy and room revenues than any other market in the state.

Hotel occupancy through September of this year is 51.8 percent, compared to 54.2 percent during the same time a year ago. That's lower than both the state's hotel occupancy rate last year 59 percent and the nation's 61 percent.

"The Williamsburg area is running substantially behind the rest of the country and the state," said Dave Schulte, executive director of the Williamsburg Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The influx of timeshares in the area may not be helping, Pons said.

"What is growing in the area are timeshares, " Pons said. " Compound that with lower visitation and it's no wonder that hotel occupancy is where it is."

Hotel owners want more money to market the area and hopefully revive their industry. The hotel/motel association's leaders are discussing whether to ask local governments to impose a $2 per room fee on the local room tax to raise additional money for advertising and other marketing to get tourists back, Young said.

In the meantime, hotel owners eager for more prosperous times may be in luck.

Overall travel spending is expected to increase by 4.4 percent next year, according to a 2004 outlook study released this month by the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA).

As for when the local market will rebound, Schulte's forecast reflects a bit more caution than that.

"Nobody has a crystal ball," Schulte said. He added lightly, "We've given up predicting."

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