It’s finally here—Art Basel Miami Beach. It’s not only evident by the copious amounts of people, art fairs, installations, and parties, but also by hotel’s significantly hiking up their prices as art enthusiasts scurry to the beach in need of lodging for the weekend.

The buzz surrounding this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach has reached its pinnacle with the event kicking off yesterday in the Magic City. Local businesses have been gearing up for the event for months and hotels have been preparing for what they hoped to be a very profitable weekend as people from all over the world flock to Miami for the infamous Art Basel.  

High-end hotels in South Beach were hoping to get premium prices during Art Basel, and it looks like their dreams are coming true. The Delano Hotel is one of the many luxury hotels on the main strip of Miami Beach where guests are finding their least expensive options to be higher than they perhaps hoped for. The Delano’s lease expensive rooms are going for $825 a night this weekend, compared to rates at $345 a night for next weekend. Art Basel is truly the kick-off point for Miami’s tourism season, and immediately after this fun-filled art weekend, Miami Beach hotels will start to see just how profitable their industry will be this season.

Miami hotels certainly have an advantage over other Floridian city hotels due to premium events such as the Super Bowl and the NFL’s Pro Bowl which will happen just a short eight weeks from now. Despite this advantage, some hospitality experts predict that Miami-Dade hotels per-room revenue is not looking so hot. Forecasts indicate they are headed for a 2010 drop of 6 percent from this year which saw “rev-par rates dropping 23 percent.” Broward county hotels are predicted to do slightly better, however, with only a 4 percent forecasted decrease for 2010 after 2009’s 17 percent drop.

Via: The Miami Herald