Santa Fe hotels report post-pandemic boom

Nov. 25—Tourists are back. They are paying more, substantially more, to lay a head on a pillow at Santa Fe hotels.

That hasn't stopped regular visitors — and many new visitors to Santa Fe.

Plenty this summer discovered the lower rates on Cerrillos Road over downtown, but downtown hotels have seen more rooms filled in September and October than any month this year.

The shoulder season has become prime time for downtown hoteliers. Spillover from the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta has claimed Santa Fe hotel rooms in October.

"It's a gift from Albuquerque to Santa Fe," said Randy Randall, executive director of Tourism Santa Fe, the city's convention and visitors bureau. "We've seen that trend of September and October being the two strongest months of the year downtown. The weather is still spectacular."

Cerrillos Road saw room occupancy rates between 80 and 87 percent from May to August, while downtown hotels saw 70 to 75 percent of rooms filled across summer, statistics from the Rocky Mountain Lodging Report show.

"[Cerrillos Road hotels] have a higher occupancy rate than downtown, which is pretty rare in my experience," said Jeff Mahan, executive director of the Santa Fe Lodgers Association.

But lower occupancy doesn't mean lower revenue.

"Tourism has basically recovered," Randall said. "It's doing better than 2019. We have lower occupancy but quite a bit higher in average rates."

Average daily room rates in summer at downtown hotels were about $90 higher than 2019, averaging $300 a night May to August. Cerrillos hotels were about $40 higher than 2019, averaging about $130, Rocky Mountain Lodging reported.

But hoteliers insist other factor than lower prices drew visitors to Cerrillos Road properties.

"We're not exorbitantly high, but we're not cheap either," said Rakesh Mehta, general manager at DoubleTree by Hilton, near Santa Fe Place. "I don't think the sticker price matters that much."

Mehta added people like the easy freeway access from DoubleTree.

El Rey Court built a marketing team during the pandemic and is frequently staging events such as weddings, organization meetings, live music twice a week, Queer Night every Monday, partnering with the Santa Fe International Film Festival and, in May, putting on the High Road daylong music fest.

The Tender Fire outdoor pizza offering in summer and El Rey Court's Turquoise Trailer food truck that started serving breakfast in August and dinner in mid-November have also helped turn El Rey into a destination.

"Folks are finding other things beyond downtown," said Sara Gonzales, brand manager at El Rey Court. "I don't think it has so much to do with price. We are doing even better than prior to the pandemic. We are becoming more of a community event center."

This year contrasts greatly with the early months of the pandemic in 2020 as downtown hotels hovered around 5 percent room occupancy and more than a half-dozen hotels in the historic town center shut down altogether.

After a year or two basically stuck at home, seasoned travelers were itching to get back on the road, and even people who may not have traveled as much before the the pandemic are now venturing out. Santa Fe is popular on post-pandemic bucket lists.

"We have a long list of regulars, but new guests are coming," said Lutz Arnhold, managing director of the Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi. "It's a young crowd. We have increased travelers from Colorado that we haven't had before. We have a large number of guests coming from California."

El Rey Court is noticing guests discovering Santa Fe for the first time.

"Occupancy is up," Gonzales said. "A lot is brand awareness. We have definitely expanded the demographic. We have long held regulars. Now we are booking a lot of guests who have never been to Santa Fe at all."

DoubleTree's Mehta is noticing new travel patterns on his end of Cerrillos, too.

"The pandemic has brought out a lot of leisure travelers that didn't exist before," Mehta said. "Random travelers are picking up things last minute. Same-day reservations. We've seen a lot more one-nighters than in the past."

The DoubleTree has seen an increase in one-night visitors from Texas, Nebraska, Arizona and Nevada, boosting its occupancy levels to record nights since the hotel opened in 2016, he said.

Inn of the Anasazi also is tapping new regions for guests.

Business is booming but the nationwide worker shortage has instilled a new normal in the hotel industry. One increasingly common change: Rooms don't get cleaned unless requested by guests.

"At times, the abundance of guests has far outweighed the abundance of staff," Mahan quipped.

The DoubleTree avoided mass layoffs during the pandemic but still has a shortage of employees.

"It's overtime," Mehta said. "We're doing a lot more overtime than we were doing before. We had to minimize some amenities. We used to have a 24-hour shuttle. Now it's booking and reservations only."

Six high school interns have eased the staffing shortage in summer at the Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi. But during Thanksgiving week, the hotel had only 78 employees rather than the pre-pandemic 90 employees.

"The 12 less people is mainly the restaurant and kitchen," Arnhold said. "We have adjusted our opening hours. Instead of the bar closing at midnight, it closes at 10. The restaurant closes at 9 instead of 10 [like] in the old days."

Other than pandemic shutdowns, Santa Fe is no longer just a summer tourism destination.

Santa Fe overall has a year-to-date hotel occupancy rate of 68 percent through October. The tourism season runs solid from March through October, but November and December still have plenty of visitors.

"The slow season in Santa Fe is becoming smaller and smaller," Arnhold said.