By the Caribbean Journal staff

Caribbean hotel occupancy dropped by 0.1 percent in February, according to the latest Caribbean Trend report from hotel analytics firm STR.

Caribbean hotel occupancy finished February at 77.3, a 0.1 percent drop from the same period in 2013.

As a point of reference, Caribbean hotel occupancy improved by 3.7 percent in February of 2013 compared to the previous year.

Average daily rates increased by 6.5 percent, however, rising to $240.34 per night, while revenue per available room (RevPar) improved 6.3 percent to $185.86 last month.

The slow growth in February came after a relatively strong January that saw a 2.4 percent increase in hotel occupancy in the region.

STR’s data surveyed 1,885 hotel properties comprising 225,507 rooms in the Caribbean region, including Bermuda.