Greeley hotels have seen a 21 percent drop in occupancy so far in 2016, following a trend seen in oil and gas regions across the country.
Data from Smith Travel Research shows the drop is worse in oil patches like Texas and North Dakota due to less drilling. Greeley benefits from Front Range traffic—and business from the University of Northern Colorado.
“They’re probably still going to take some sort of hit in terms of demand decline coming from the oil and gas industry," said Steve Hennis, Smith Travel Research's vice president of consulting and analytics. "They’re not solely reliant on it and probably will be insulated to some degree.”
Hennis said the recovery could take a while.
“Whether that’s six months or five years, it’s hard to say," he said. "It’s really going to be reliant on oil prices and the oil and gas industry.”
Across the country, there is a hotel building boom—and that includes Greeley. Earlier this year, the city broke ground on a $31 million downtown hotel and convention center.
