By the Caribbean Journal staff

After unsurprisingly seeing major declines in hotel occupancy in October following Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the Caribbean hotel industry rebounded in a big way in October, according to the latest report from hotel analytics firm STR.

After a September that saw a 16.5 percent year-over-year decline in hotel occupancy, Caribbean hotels reported a 3.5 percent increase in occupancy compared to October 2016.

That wasn’t just a major bounce back — it was also the highest year-over-year increase of any month in all of 2017.

In fact, hotel rates actually rose by 6.9 percent in October year over year to an average daily rate of $160.96, while revenue per available room rose, too, with a 10.8 percent increase to $92.11.

The Sands at Grace Bay in Turks and Caicos, another top property that has reopened.

For the year, even with the impact of the storms, hotel occupancy for the Caribbean is down just 0.7 percent to 66.9 percent, while hotel rates are up 2.2 percent to $202.88 and revenue per available room is up 1.5 percent to $135.81.

To compile its data, STR surveyed 1,906 hotels comprising 246,470 rooms in the wider Caribbean region.

It’s a serious message to the world that the Caribbean hotel sector isn’t just recovering from Irma and Maria — it’s stronger than it has been all year.

Indeed, contrary to perception, the vast majority of the Caribbean is open for business and ready for the peak season (For more on that, see our list of 30 islands in the Caribbean you can visit right now).

St Barth’s Les Ilets de la Plage hotel has already reopened.

And even islands hit hard by the storms, most notably the British Virgin Islands and St Barth, are already welcoming visitors again for the tourist season.