The latest sales and bed tax data for Sedona present a picture of a very mixed spring break season, with a vigorous March having been followed by a weak April.
Total March sales tax collections stood at $3,710,005, up 16% from $3,190,884 in March 2023, while April sales tax fell to $3,297,969, or by 5% compared to spring 2023.
Retail sales were up 11% in March, compared to the previous year, but down 3% in April, while restaurant sales taxes climbed 23% in March, then fell by 9% in April. Hotel sales tax was similarly up 25% for March and down 6% in April. Construction fell 1% in March and 11% in April, with amusements up 10% and then down 13% for both months.
Total sales tax collections for fiscal year 2024 have been $27,459,780, up 5% over the same time last year.
“Everything is coming in way over what was originally projected,” interim Finance Director Jean McGann told the Sedona City Council on June 11 during an update on March tax collections. McGann also noted that the March figure was the largest dollar amount the city has received in a single month since March 2014.
Bed tax revenues for March reached $1,198,616, up 25% from the previous year, then fell to $916,570 for April, a decline of 7% from April 2023. Occupancy, however, remained around 82% for both months, comparable to 2021 and 2022. Average daily room rate was likewise stable around $425, which was slightly below 2022 levels but well above the comparable rates for 2023, 2021 and 2020; ADR in March 2020 was $250.
The average room rate for the year to date was in excess of $325, and overall occupancy year to date was just below 67%.
While hotel occupancy from 2006 to the present has remained very consistent, in the range of 60% to 80% for most months, excepting winter troughs, room rates have risen over that period, accompanied by a substantial increase in the degree of rate variability.
Between January 2006 and January 2012, the usual range for room rates was between $125 and $175. By January 2016, this had expanded to between $150 and $225, and from May 2022 to June 2024, the range varied from $250 to $400.
