Hotel business slumps in January

According to Smith Travel Research statistics, San Diego's hotel business continues to sag while Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Francisco soar.

January hotel occupancy locally dropped from 62.8% to 62.6%, a decline of 0.4%. But occupancy in San Francisco was up 6.6%, Orange County 5.8%, and Los Angeles 5%.

SD's average daily room rate inched up 0.1% while the other three enjoyed gains from 5.7% to 11.9% in San Francisco.

San Diego's average daily room rate of $125.05 is still below the $127.08 of January 2007, before the recession. The other three California cities have enjoyed big gains in those seven years.

Hotel guru Jerry Morrison blames the cutback in tourism funds and the effect of the sequester for San Diego's anemic figures.