Byline: John Rebchook
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
The average hotel occupancy rate in Colorado in July fell to 70.8 percent from 74.2 percent in July 2001, continuing the trend seen throughout most of the year.
If it hadn't been for the wildfires raging across the state, hotel occupancies would likely have been much closer to where they were last year, said Bob Benton of Robert S. Benton & Associates Inc., author of the Rocky Mountain Lodging Report released Thursday.
But Colorado's problems may have been Wyoming's gain, he said.
``One thing that caught me when looking at the statistics is that while Denver and Colorado were down, Wyoming was up,'' Benton said. ...