Miami Beach still will be the center of the art world for the first weekend in December. But people don't seem willing to pay as much to be there this year.

With the economy in retreat, hotels that usually are sold out for Art Basel week still have rooms to sell. And while the country's largest contemporary arts show still commands premium room rates, some hotels are rolling back prices for the big event.

Even so, organizers say they're not seeing the fallout in demand that hit rival art shows this fall as the financial crisis roiled collectors' budgets and outlooks.

''A lot of people pulled out of other fairs because they have to be in Miami,'' said Nicholas Christopher, owner of Turon Travel, the official travel agency for 20 major art shows.

Still, Christopher described hotel bookings as ''a little slower'' for Art Basel Miami Beach this year -- the first decline he's seen since the show's debut in 2002. And his New York firm has seen some reliable Basel attendees scrap their annual treks to South Beach.

''A lot of the museum groups are cutting back. A lot of them aren't going,'' he said.

Party planners already reported a decline in entertainment budgets for Basel. But the big players still plan to have fun. Battered Swiss bank UBS, Basel's top sponsor, said in a statement it has ''tried to be mindful of any and all cost efficiencies throughout our planning process,'' while still spending enough to continue entertaining clients in style, including an opening bash at the Delano hotel.

''If there's ever a year to party and get one's minds off other events, this is the year,'' said David Bigler, head of UBS's Miami office.

Some hotels are lowering profit expectations for the weeklong event that begins Monday, Dec. 1. A survey of more than a dozen South Beach hotels found many have dropped lucrative rules requiring guests to stay between three and five nights during Art Basel. Of the 15 surveyed, only four were sold out -- an unusual level of availability with Basel just three weeks away.

''The last couple of years, we've been pretty sold out by now -- people were having to go into Miami'' for rooms, said Robert Goodman, the show's local spokesman.

The extremes of the price ranges seem to be most in demand: both the Ritz-Carlton South Beach and the $185-a-night Greenview were sold out for the week. (Demand for rooms typically eases by Friday, and only one hotel in the survey had no rooms to sell for the Basel weekend.)

''We've been sold out for months,'' said Frank Holtslag, general manager of the sold-out Sagamore. ``It's great. It's high rates.''

Miami Herald staff writer Mimi Whitefield contributed to this report.

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