There’s a strategy going on in Orlando that is lifting all boats. It’s called reinvestment.
“Orlando is a year-round destination anchored by large theme parks that continue to invest heavily in their offerings,” says Ian Glastein, co-head of real estate at Monarch Alternative Capital LP. “This dynamic, which attracts leisure travel from across the world, keeps occupancy high relative to many other markets.”
Those theme parks must be doing something right. Metro Orlando’s hotel occupancy was 70.5 percent in December 2023, according to Visit Orlando. Despite this being down 3 percent from the previous year, it’s still significantly higher than the average U.S. hotel occupancy for that same period, which stood at 52.6 percent, per CoStar, a 1.8 percent decline from 2022.
“Competition for leisure travelers by destinations and the cruise industry is intense, but continued investment by the theme parks keeps Orlando fresh and new,” says Daryl Cronk, director of hospitality analytics at CoStar. “Additionally, hotel demand is likely to benefit from the investment Orange County has made in the local venues, and to attract future sporting events.”
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