How rail helps some Chicago hotels benefit financially
1If you’re a hotelier looking for the right location for a hotel property in Chicago or other cities with rail transit systems, the ideal place to be is within a quarter mile of a rail station. That’s a key finding in a?new study?from the?American Public Transportation Association?produced in conjunction with the U.S. Travel Association.
The study analyzed the price of hotel rooms within a quarter-mile of rail stations in several major cities with transit systems, including Chicago, and compared them to rates charged in hotels not so near rail stations.
According to the report, which looked at rates over the course of several years, hotels near?Chicago Transit Authority?rail stations commanded an average daily room rate of around $180 a day in recent months in 2013, compared to an average of just under $130 a day for local hotels more distant from CTA rail stations. Altogether, the CTA has 144 trains stations that served 728,000 people a day during 2012.
Looking at the data from all the cities included in the report, the results showed that hotels within a quarter mile of rail stations had 12.5 percent higher average occupancy rates and nearly 50 percent higher average daily room rates than did those hotels more distant from rail stations.
The American Public Transportation Association is a not-for-profit international association of 1,500 public and private sector organizations involved in the transportation industry.
The U.S. Travel Association?is the national, not-for-profit organization representing all components of the domestic travel industry.