Behind San Angelo's Booming Hospitality and Hotel Industry

Finding a hotel room in San Angelo last year was difficult task, when high room prices and occupancy rates soared with demand, as compared to other cities in the state. Out of 11 cities that surpassed the state average on hotel occupancy tax growth, San Angelo was number one, followed by Midland and Odessa, who ranked second and third statewide.

“We were doing really good,” said San Angelo Convention and Visitor’s Bureau Director Pamela Miller. “Our occupancy was up 24 months consecutive. That was, frankly, pretty easy to do here because we don’t have a lot of hotel rooms. We had approximately 2,000 before the new ones started coming on board, but it was the best year—last year—that we have ever had.”

Miller said that in 2013, the average daily rate for San Angelo hotel rooms was consistently up 30 percent or more over the year prior. The city’s regular business coupled with that of the oil and gas sector, Miller said, drove prices up as the rooms filled, hurting other areas of tourism deterred by the pricing.

“It’s hurt our convention and especially motor coach tour business because they’re not going to spend that for a room,” she said. “If they can do a tour and stay in San Antonio for $80 a night, they’re not going to spend over $200 to stay here.”

In the latter part of 2013, however, daily rates did begin to drop, she said, partially due to workers in the energy sector moving to man camps and temporary housing units. In addition, more hotels are coming online, sinking the prices a bit lower. Approximately 1,000 new rooms will be available this year, Miller said, and two new hotels have already opened, which has dropped the rates from 30 percent down to 21 percent.  

“We have already seen the rates start to come down,” Miller said. “We have worked very hard with the meeting planners that use hotels and the tour operators to say, ‘Stay with us. Keep our reputation strong. Come back, we promise it’s getting better’. We’ve got over 1,000 new rooms coming that will bring the price down. Now we’ve opened only two of those new hotels and we’re already seeing the prices coming down.”

The San Angelo Convention and Visitor’s Bureau receives numbers each month from 26 properties in San Angelo, which currently account for 2,082 rooms. According to the website for the Texas State Comptroller on Public Accounts, some 36 properties exist in San Angelo, including small bed and breakfast and single-room rental dwellings.

Since 2011, the total receipts these 36 properties report on an annual bases have risen from $27.8 million in 2011 to $54.5 million in 2013. The top three hotels, La Quinta, Springhill Suites and Clarion Hotel, have increased their annual revenues by $3.0 million, $1.9 million and $3.3 million over the past two years.

The table below includes the yearly revenues for the top 10 San Angelo hotels from 2011-2014. The total includes revenues from all 36 properties for the entire year. For 2014, the numbers reflect only the receipts of the first quarter.