The hotel industry, slammed by the recession, is faring better in Spokane County than in other Northwest urban counties in some categories, the Spokane Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau says, citing statistics compiled by Smith Travel Research Inc.

Smith Travel's report for August shows Spokane County is down 7.6 percent in revenue per available room through the first eight months of this year compared with the year-earlier period. That's less than half the 20 percent and 20.5 percent revenue drops in King County and Oregon's Multnomah County, respectively, the data show.

Spokane County also has seen much less of a revenue-per room decline than many other urban western U.S. counties, such as Ada County, in Idaho; Salt Lake County, in Utah; Sacramento County, in California; and Bernalillo County, in New Mexico, where Albuquerque is located. Those counties have seen drop-offs of 16 percent to 21 percent.

Similarly, in the category of room demand, Spokane County is down 5.4 percent for the year, compared with declines of 9 percent in King County, 8.3 percent in Multnomah County, and up to 10.6 percent in the other counties, the data show. Pierce County, which includes Tacoma, however, has fared better than Spokane County so far this year both in revenue per available room, down 4 percent, and demand, down just 1.1 percent.

"We're off, but we're not off anywhere near where some of these others are off," says Harry Sladich, the CVB's president and CEO.

"Spokane has a foundation that's built on not just corporate travel, but a huge amount of leisure travel," from places like Canada, Montana, southern Idaho, and parts of Washington state, says Sladich.

Tim Peterson, general manager of Oxford Suites Spokane Downtown Hotel, says that 125-room hotel is down between 5 percent and 6 percent for the first eight months in both room demand and revenue per available room.

"People are looking for more value, so they are shopping pretty hard," Peterson says. "People are asking for deeper discounts, more than normal. They still want our amenities, but they want a better deal."

He says the largest segment of the hotel's business that is off is customers staying in Spokane for leisure. "They just don't have the disposable income that they've had" in the past, he says.

Sladich says 2010 looks like it will be a good year for hotels here, with events such as the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball tournament's first and second rounds, the "Phantom of the Opera" musical, the annual Hoopfest tournament, and conventions. He says he's a little worried about 2011, because events for that year aren't filling the calendar.

"Based on our history, we should be more filled in than we are," he says.