Atlanta Hotel Operators Look to New Year’s Eve, 2010 to Bolster Profits

By Jim Burress

Atlanta, GA – After a dismal 2009, Atlanta hotels are looking to New Year's Eve for a reason to celebrate.

An analysis of 30,000 booking requests by website Priceline.com shows downtown Atlanta as the 7th most popular spot in the nation for New Year's Eve.

Upscale locales are going for more than $300. A few, including the Hyatt Regency, Hotel Indigo and St. Regis, are sold out.

2009 is a year Atlanta's hotel operators want to put behind them. On any given night, only about half of metro Atlanta's 93,000 rooms were occupied says Mark Woodworth of Atlanta-based PKF Hospitality Research.

“Atlanta's hotels really led the nation into this downturn, and the good news is that Atlanta it looks like it's going to be coming out of this downturn more quickly than will the nation as a whole,” he says.

Woodworth says 2010 estimates show an improvement, but still well below historic averages for the city.