Local Digest

HOSPITALITY

Room Rates Drop for Marriott, Other Hotels

Marriott International of Bethesda and other U.S. hotel operators may need four years to restore room rates to 2008 levels after slashing prices to spur demand.

"We don't see national average room rates getting back to 2008 levels until sometime in 2012 or even 2013," Mark Woodworth, president of PKF Hospitality Research, said in an interview. "There were rate declines in 2001 and 2002, but until this year that was the only other time that happened in this industry in some 20-plus years."

The average U.S. daily hotel rate -- room revenue divided by rooms sold -- dropped 9.8 percent in May from a year earlier to $97.03 and is down 8.5 percent since Jan. 1, according to Smith Travel Research. U.S. daily room rates peaked at $106.69 in 2008.

-- Bloomberg News

MEDIA

S&P Downgrades Radio One Rating

Standard & Poor's lowered its corporate credit rating on Lanham-based Radio One to "CCC+" from "B-," with a negative outlook, citing reduced ad demand. "Although visibility into the second half of 2009 is very limited, the ratings downgrade reflects our belief that Radio One could be in danger of violating its financial covenants in the fourth quarter of 2009 if operating trends don't meaningfully improve," Standard & Poor's credit analyst Michael Altberg said in a statement.

-- Terri Rupar

PHARMACEUTICAL

Osiris Shares Fall After Stem-Cell Study

Shares of Osiris Therapeutics fell after study results showed that the stem-cell drug candidate Prochymal met safety goals but failed to improve lung function in pulmonary disease patients.

Late Tuesday, the Columbia-based company said the stem-cell-based drug candidate met its key safety goal in the Phase II study. But the drug did not improve lung function in the pulmonary disease patients after six months.