Anaheim Room Occupancy Dips : Hotels: With 5.1% fewer units filled in city during April, it pulled down O.C. average.

A big drop in hotel occupancy and room rates in the Anaheim area helped depress figures for all of Orange County in April, when 5.1% fewer hotel rooms, on average, were filled than during the same month last year, according to a Los Angeles consulting agency.

Orange County hotels had a 64.8% average occupancy rate in April, down from 68.3% last year, according to the monthly survey by PKF Consulting. The drop was largely attributable by a poor showing by hotels in and near Anaheim, which were 66% full, a 10.4% reduction over average occupancy of 73.8% in April last year.

PKF researcher Melissa Mills said she was unsure why Anaheim had such a poor showing. Los Angeles hotels also reported lower occupancy in April. The company said fewer travelers came to Los Angeles in April out of fears of more rioting stemming from the verdict in the federal trial of four police officers who beat motorist Rodney G. King.

“The only thing I can think of is that (the effect) spilled over to Orange County,” she said. “People might have decided to stay away from the whole area in general.”

But Patrick Hynes, spokesman for the Anaheim Hilton, discounted the effect of the King case. He blamed the reduced room occupancy on lower-than-expected attendance at major conventions.

“It has been a continuing trend for the past 12 months,” Hynes said. “Conventions, in general, are failing to realize the total number of rooms anticipated.”

Anaheim aside, the remainder of the county fared rather well in April. The John Wayne Airport area, the most important hotel center after Anaheim, reported occupancy of 61%, up 7.2% from April, 1992. South Orange County, home to some of the area’s most luxurious beach resorts, had occupancy of 72.1% in April, up 9.7% over last year. The other region of decline was in north Orange County, where occupancy was 64.5%, down 3.2% from the same month last year.

The average room rate in the Anaheim area was $77.37, down 8.2% from $84.26 in April 1992. All other areas of the county had declines in room rates as well for the month, with a 2.1% decline in the airport area being the worst next to Anaheim.

Overall, the average Orange County room rate in April was $72.94, down 6.3% from $77.85.