Visit Santa Barbara, destination marketing organization for the Santa Barbara South Coast region, on Feb. 24, has posted local hotel performance data for January 2025.

Santa Barbara South Coast hotel occupancy increased 10% in January 2025, compared to January 2024. Hotel occupancy was 63% in January 2025.

The average rate for a Santa Barbara South Coast hotel room in January 2025 was $280 a night, up 14% from the same month last year. Revenue per available hotel room was $176 in January 2025, increasing 25% compared to the same month last year.

January saw a 27% increase in Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) projections for the city of Santa Barbara at $2.05 million, marking a 26% year-over-year growth and a record-breaking month for the ninth consecutive month.

“Although the numbers point to growth, we know so much of the demand in January came from an increase in visitors due to the devastating fires in Los Angeles,” said Kathy Janega-Dykes, president/CEO of Visit Santa Barbara.

“While we never hope for tragedies to be the reason visitors are attracted to our community, we are grateful to the many hospitality businesses that provided comfort to evacuees during this difficult time,” she said.

“Seeing our hotels and vacation rentals doing whatever they could to ease the burden for impacted guests was truly heartwarming,” Janega-Dykes said.

The data referenced is generated by STR, an independent hospitality data analytics company. It includes hotels in Santa Barbara, Goleta, Montecito, Summerland, and unincorporated Santa Barbara County (between Gaviota and Summerland).