San Diego hottel/vacation rates

from this morning's San Diego Business Journal

San Diego on $7,000 a Night or $200 a Day
By CONNIE LEWIS - 8/6/2007
San Diego Business Journal Staff

"Thanks to successful marketing and promotion, along with a great climate, attractions and proximity to Mexico, San Diego has gone from a sleepy Navy town in the 1950s to one of the nation’s top tourism destinations today.

However, some would argue that it has yet to achieve the status of a world-class destination, and if they’re using hotel room rates as the measure, they’re right. This year, San Diego’s rates average $137 per day compared with New York at $254, London at $217 and Paris at $229, according to industry analysts." ...

"Traveling In The Lap Of Luxury

One of Bob and Carol’s main reasons for coming to town is to watch the Arizona Diamondbacks play the Padres on the evening of Aug. 27 and they’ve opted for the two-night “Opulence Redefined” package at the U.S. Grant Hotel. For $15,000, plus $1,500 extra for a third night, they’ll stay in one of the Grant’s two 1,500-square-foot presidential suites with a view of downtown and San Diego Bay. That price includes gratuities, but not taxes.

The package includes dining “al fresco” on the suite’s balcony with a meal for two prepared to order by the hotel’s top chef. It also includes a private butler, a chauffeured Bentley at their disposal, sailing aboard a private yacht and being served a “gourmet” luncheon, a four-hour treatment by Spa Velia, either in their room or at the spa’s downtown location, and a couple of plush robes and two pairs of slippers to take with them when they leave." .....

"First up on their places-to-go list is the horse races. Clubhouse admission at the Del Mar Race Track plus seating costs $20 per person. The track has no elite seating other than the Turf Club, but you have to be a member or a member’s guest to enter." ...

"Two seats in Petco Park’s Toyota Terrace will run $60 each. Altogether, the cost of Bob and Carol’s mini-vacation, including the city’s 10.5 percent hotel room tax of $1,732.50, comes to $21,115, or about $7,000 per night, a far cry from the $160 that the average leisure visitor staying in a hotel spent per night in 2006, according to the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau. In 2006, 32.2 million visitors came to the county and spent $7.7 billion while they were here, ConVis says.

The Other Side Of The Coin

Ted and Alice, another hypothetical couple coming to San Diego from Phoenix, are an entirely different story.

For starters, they’re driving and bringing groceries with them. Gas for their economy car would cost $160, considering they’d fill up four times during the 360-mile trip." ....

They will stay at the Hotel Occidental, a recent renovation of a historic building on Bankers Hill between Hillcrest and downtown, in a $79-a-night room that has a full-size bed, kitchenette, fridge and microwave, phone with voice mail, TV and DVD player, according to a reservations clerk. The restroom and shower are shared facilities outside the room. For three nights, their hotel bill will be $237 and the room tax is an additional $24.89." .....

"They’ll walk or bike to the game and watch from the Park at the Park, the grassy area behind the outfield fence. Cost for two tickets: $10." ...

for complete story see: http://sdbj.com/enews_article.asp?aID=58211517.9100611.1508845.17583702.3888906.408&aID2=116056&lid=30&sid=&cID=Z