Hotels set a record for revenue per room

Orlando-area hotels broke a record in 2013: highest-ever revenue per available room.

Called RevPAR, the figure is a way to measure the average revenue generated per day by each available guestroom in the market. In 2013, it hit $72.04, up 7.8 percent compared with a year ago, according to Smith Travel Research, which tracks hotel data.

That tally was enough to narrowly beat the previous record of $71.79, which was set in 2007 at the pre-recession height of the local hotel market.

Still, there is a wide disparity in RevPAR among Orlando's various submarkets. Lake Buena Vista, which enjoys high occupancy and the area's highest average daily rates, recorded revenue per available room of $88.29. West Kissimmee, where rates are much cheaper and average occupancy is the lowest in the market, had RevPAR of $34.09.

Southwest 'on track' with AirTran

Fresh off a record annual profit announced Thursday, Southwest Airlines said it is on track to retire the AirTran brand by the end of the year.

The Dallas-based airline, which is the busiest carrier at Orlando International Airport, said it plans to convert AirTran's seven international markets and remaining domestic markets to the Southwest brand by the end of 2014.

AirTran is still operating flights out of Orlando International Airport, where it was the fourth-busiest carrier during fiscal year 2013. The airline flew 3.5 million passengers through OIA, or about 10 percent of the airport's passengers.

Southwest bought Orlando-based AirTran Airways in 2011. But as a domestic carrier, Southwest faced a key obstacle in integrating the two carriers because AirTran also flew international routes.

Gary Kelly, Southwest's chief executive officer, said in the company's earnings release that the integration of AirTran resulted in $400 million in annual net pre-tax synergies in 2013.

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Hotels set a record for revenue per room