No matter how you slice it, 2009 was a weak year for hotels in the Caribbean (as well as everywhere else). RevPAR continued to slip right into December 2009. Is it/was it the bottom? We won't know until 2010 stats start to come in. I keep saying the same thing though to everyone in the travel and tourism business - "Sales", "Specials" and "Discounts" have to stop at some point - merchants, hoteliers - everyone in the industry - need to come up with honest, new prices. I think the consumer is growing too savvy, they have too much information, etc. and they are going to start getting "deal" fatigue - when everyone has a deal, nothing is a deal. The travel industry needs to help put the bottom in place by adjusting prices to the new economic reality.
