Hotel Occupancy Up in Houston, New Orleans and San Francisco

(MoneyWatch)  Three very different metros claimed the country's top spots in hotel occupancy and room revenue increases this year, according to data from Smith Travel Research. Houston, New Orleans and San Francisco posted the heartiest year-over-year occupancy (i.e. the only one in the Top 25 markets with a rise in numbers) and room revenue performance, while other cities, such as Phoenix, Boston, Nashville and Norfolk-Virginia Beach had the most anemic results.

The results for the first 10 months of 2008 (top and bottom three):

Occupancy

• New Orleans: 11.2 percent
• Houston and San Francisco (both): 1.3
• Phoenix: -10.2
• Norfolk-Virginia Beach: -8.9
• Nashville: -7.1

RevPAR

• New Orleans: 13.2
• Houston: 11.2
• San Francisco: 7.8
• Norfolk-Virginia-Beach: -7.9
• Phoenix: -6.2
• Boston: -4.6

Why Houston? one might ask. At least with San Francisco and New Orleans there's a lot of atmosphere, but Houston?!? Turns out it was due mostly to Hurricane Ike. (Does that include price-gouging?)

"Houston continues to outperform the rest of the top 25 because of the displacement of Hurricane Ike and the relative strength of the oil industry," Jan Freitag, Smith Travel Research vice president of global development said.

(Although no one made a statement about it, I'm sure the legalization of same-sex marriage helped San Francisco's occupancy a tad in October -- and just before the November election.)

We previously discussed the problems Phoenix is having, even saying it's one of the five worst hit areas in travel. With declining flights and tourism dependent on airlines, it's been a tough year for the sunny city.

The real surprise for me? Boston. Who knew it ws having trouble? I mean other than canceling the 137-year-old New England Flower Show.