Hotel occupancy rates were barely better than a year ago, rising 1.4 percent statewide and 1.1 percent in Salt Lake County. Offsetting those minimal increases were average room rates that declined about $1 a night in Utah as a whole, and $2 nightly in Salt Lake County. Cedar City provided the primary exception to these unimpressive statistics. Lodging establishments there filled 69 percent of their rooms last month, up from 61 percent a year earlier, according to the Denver-based Rocky Mountain Lodging Report. Salt Lake Tribune
