The study concludes that lodging demand in college and university towns is more stable than both U.S. averages and similarly sized cities. However, the study also concludes the demand for college and university lodging has overall below-average occupancy and rate levels.
The translational research study, published in December 2014, shows that significant predictors of lodging-demand growth in college and university markets include city employment and population trends, as would be expected, O’Neill said.
“Interestingly, university-grant funding and graduate-student populations—two factors that have not been previously studied—are also strong predictors of lodging demand. Among the primary recommendations of the study are that hotel-feasibility analysts should evaluate both grant-funding and graduate-student-population trends when studying prospective markets.”
The research study analyzes college and university-related lodging demand over a 24-year period. The project focuses on 27 college towns to isolate the dynamics of lodging supply and demand related to colleges. Also, the study compares the supply and demand in college and university towns to U.S. averages and to similarly sized cities not dominated by a college or university.
To view the report, visit www.chrie.org/data/files/gallery/ContentGallery/ONeill_UniversityTowns_1002.pdf.