Hotels: low vacancies, high rates

If you're struggling to find a hotel room under $200 a night during the holidays, there's always downtown. The Sheraton has a $179-a-night special, which includes a bottle of wine, a cheese plate and daily breakfast for two. If you want the beach, however, be prepared to pay over $300 a night - if you can find availability. That's pretty much the story all over the U.S. Demand is up this year by 2.6 percent, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers forecast, and in some locales room rates are out of sight. From the WSJ:

A room at the Marriott East Side in Manhattan costs $529, up 13% from $469 last year. The nightly rate at the Delano in Miami Beach is $485 over Christmas, an increase of $70 over the same time last year. The holiday room rate at the Drake in Chicago runs from $169 to $419, up $30 on both price ends. At the Marco Island Marriott Resort on Florida's southwestern coast, rates are up 15%. Smaller hotels are also charging more. Casa Natalia, a Small Luxury Hotels of the World property in Mexico, is charging $385, up 10% from last year. The room rate at Hacienda de los Santos Resort and Spa, another SLH property in Mexico, is $370. The rate was $320 this time last year.

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There are deals to be had, though. Leisure travelers looking for value should consider off-peak areas like Washington, D.C., where rates are relatively low because it isn't as popular a holiday destination. The Washington Grand Hyatt is offering a rate of $99 for a guest room and $129 for a room plus breakfast for two through Jan. 4, subject to availability. Last year, the hotel says that its room rate was $129 without any meals included. Marriott's rates in Washington are also steady from a year ago. John Wolf, a spokesman for Marriott International Inc., said the company is marketing the area as an affordable alternative in the Northeast.

The most recent local numbers from PKF Consulting are for October, and they show high occupancy rates (78.5 percent in L.A. County from 77.2 percent a year earlier) and, perhaps more significant, an 11.5 percent increase in the average daily room rate. As usual, Beverly Hills leads the pack, with an ADR of $351.01, up 13.2 percent from a year earlier.