Apr. 2, 2010--Arizona hotel rates were down almost 12 percent in January compared with the same high-season month last year. Occupancy levels rose nearly 1 percentage point -- but only because of Phoenix and Scottsdale resorts.

Within Tucson, east-side hotels saw the only occupancy increase, rising by about 8.5 percent compared with January 2009.

Based on these new numbers provided by Los Angeles-based PFK Consulting, it appears Arizona hotels may have cut room rates to try to preserve occupancy levels.

Total Arizona hotel occupancy was 59.1 percent in January, the report says.

Here are some of the numbers broken down by region

Area average daily rate in January

Location 2010 2009

Tucson airport $71.33 $76.63

Tucson downtown $91.79 $98.86

Tucson resorts $140.96 $181.30

Tucson east $91.28 $97.00

Phoenix downtown $122.06 $141.64

Phoenix-Scottsdale resorts $184.36 $218.97

Flagstaff $74.15 $76.04

Sedona $119.79 $133.49

Area average occupancy rate in January

Location 2010 2009 percentage percentage

Tucson airport 54.29 54.89

Tucson downtown 54.22 56.26

Tucson resorts 47.89 53.63

Tucson east 72.18 63.65

Phoenix downtown 58.05 63.66

Phoenix-Scottsdale resorts 71.60 61.74

Flagstaff 43.98 47.08

Sedona 25.61 34.60

Contact NASA Space Grant intern Ian Friedman at 434-4083 or at [email protected]

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