Hotels that were expecting a booming August with occupancy of 80 and 100 percent saw drops of ten percent or more after Felix caused a number of visitors to cut short their holidays. Hundreds fled the Island last weekend on specially chartered American Airlines flights, leaving hoteliers with empty rooms and unexpected gaps.

The impact of the hurricane on bookings this week and next is yet to be assessed.

Projected figures released by the Bermuda Hotel Association yesterday showed occupancy projected at August 1 was already just 68.9 percent -- three percent down from last year.

July was also poor with 74.5 percent occupancy -- almost seven percent down from 1994.

"August results will be significantly depressed and worse than indicated by the already soft pre-hurricane projection,'' said Bermuda Hotel Association president Mr. Stephen Barker.

"August was already looking weak before Felix came.'' Mr. Barker dubbed July occupancy levels "very, very poor''. The beginning of the month was "acceptable'' he said but the latter half, "extremely weak''.

In better years, July occupancy was expected to reach 80 percent or more.

However, fall figures were on target with 52.8 percent projected for September and 47.8 percent for October.

Last year was not strong either, he admitted.

"We do not want to lose further ground but I am expecting we'll do as well as 1994.'' General Manager at Palm Reef Hotel, Mr. Giuseppe Marcone said the hotel was supposed to be fully booked on Monday, the day before Felix struck, but that early departures on Sunday and cancellations had reduced occupancy to 36 percent by Friday.

"The cancellations will affect us for another two to three weeks,'' he predicted.

However, he expected business to pick up again by next week.

Mr. Michael Poynter at Elbow Beach Hotel also admitted Felix had flattened this week's figures.

"We were about 85 percent full and were going to have a much better August than initially forecast. We were quite disappointed the hurricane came along because we were going to do quite well.'' Mr. William Griffith general manager of Belmont Hotel said August was "not as good as it should be''.

"The peak season is still very soft. The fall is okay but not the type of numbers we've seen in the past.'' While there had been some reduction in staff hours in the service industry in July, lay offs were expected to be fewer in August.