A slumping travel market seems to be easing Art Basel's biggest gripe with Miami Beach: pricey hotel rooms.

With demand for lodging down this week, hotels have been dropping not just rates but requirements that Basel-goers book four- and five-night stays. The discounting follows years of Basel organizers pressing hotels to lower lodging costs or risk losing the popular fair to another city.

That possibility -- while always remote -- eased considerably Tuesday when Basel signed a three-year deal at the Miami Beach Convention Center, the first time the show agreed to return more than one year in advance.

The agreement was announced in September as part of a larger deal involving Basel's parent company gaining a management role at the convention center. But its ratification comes as hotels find it harder to charge the premium rates that so irked Basel organizers.

''We've had substantial problems with the hotel rates. Some of our exhibitors obviously complained. It's very expensive for them to come here with their staffs,'' Art Basel Miami Beach Director Annette Schonholzer said.

Basel agreed to return to Miami Beach through 2011 after parent company Messe Schweiz and its partner, Global Spectrum, won a three-year management contract at the center. The management deal came well before a deteriorating economy prompted hotels to drop their Basel prices.

''We've heard many hotel rates have just dipped in the last couple of weeks,'' Schonholzer said. ``Some people may be deciding to come anyway, now that they know rooms are available and the rates are less high.''

Turon Travel, the New York travel agency that specializes in art fairs, estimated hotel bookings are down roughly 10 percent this year for Art Basel. Turon's website has been a barometer of Basel's slow booking pace, since only about a third of the hotels were listed as sold-out Tuesday afternoon.

Some saw the influx of new hotel rooms this year -- the renovated Fontainebleau, Eden Roc and Gansevoort added more than 2,000 extra rooms alone -- making Basel demand seem weaker than it really is. The Delano, a Basel sponsor, still had rooms to sell Tuesday, though they were hardly a bargain at $795 a night.

''If a guy got $2,000 last year for a room in Art Basel, and he's getting $1,600 this year . . . don't tell me that's gloom and doom,'' said Stuart Blumberg, president of the Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotel Association.

But some hotels report a definite slowdown for the week.

At the Ocean Five on trendy Ocean Drive, there are no rooms to sell next weekend. Basel weekend is a different story.

''It's not what it used to be,'' General Manager Kevin McLaney said of Basel demand. ``It's definitely off.''

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