Hotels stymied by rising air fares

PHOENIX, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Large U.S. hotels, dependent on profits from hosting conferences, are rethinking marketing plans in the wake of rising air fares, hoteliers said.

A Fortune 500 pharmaceutical giant from New York recently canceled a sizable booking at the Hotel Valley Ho in Phoenix, Ariz., the Arizona Republic reported Monday.

Rising air fares "blew their budget out to where they have to now keep it (the training session) in their area," the hotel's director of sales and marketing Jesse Thompson told the newspaper.

Many hotels are turning to regional businesses to help keep the rooms and convention centers busy, the Republic reported.

"All we hear about now is the cost of travel, the cost of gas," said Rachel Sacco, chief executive officer of the Scottsdale Convention and Visitors Bureau. "It's an important consideration, much more so than it ever was before."

Air fares have escalated to the point where US Airways recently advertised a sale price of $628 for a roundtrip ticket from Phoenix to Boston. In the recent past, $300 used to purchase the same ticket, the Republic said.

Online travel agency Orbitz.com said tickets booked from Phoenix are 34 percent higher than a year ago, the report said.