TAMPA (Mar. 19, 2015) – The month of February is known for Valentine's Day and Hillsborough County enjoyed a lot of love as well, becoming number one in our competitive set in revenue per available room.

Hillsborough County hotels reported room occupancy at nearly 86 percent, up more than 7 percent over February, 2014. Average daily room rate ($119.48) and revenue per available room, or RevPAR ($102.41) were both significantly higher, by 10 and 18 percent, respectively, according to STR, Inc.
The county remains on pace to make the 2015 fiscal year a record-setter in several categories. The numbers reflect hotel stays in February.
Total hotel revenues for the month came in at $62.84 million, a whopping 19.9 percent higher than the same time the year before. The STR, Inc. data covers 174 hotels in Hillsborough County.

“Every month we're showing double digit growth over last year,” said Santiago Corrada, president and CEO of Visit Tampa Bay. “It's nice to be number one against our competitive set and it's overwhelming the amount of business we're driving here. But, we can't rest on our laurels because we've got to keep pushing.”
Among the factors contributing to a strong month was a robust start to Gasparilla Season and conventions which included the American Traffic Safety Services Association and the Florida Bar Examiners.

Tampa Bay ranked second in Florida in the categories of RevPAR and occupancy percentage change. And second in occupancy and average daily rate among a list of 10 destinations with which Tampa Bay competes for both tourism and convention business. The list includes Orlando and Fort Lauderdale; Austin, Fort Worth and San Antonio in Texas; Baltimore, MD.; Charlotte, N.C.; Long Beach, CA; Milwaukee, WI; and Nashville, TN. ###