A year ago, the average Shore Club room took in nearly $200 a night during the slow summer travel season. This summer, the hotel barely generated $100 per room.

Add in revenue from the bar and restaurants -- favorite stops for celebrities on the South Beach party circuit -- and the numbers get worse: Profits plunged 113 percent at the Shore Club this summer, a rough stretch that saw the 309-room hotel fall behind on its mortgage.

Hotel experts say they aren't surprised by the distressing fiscal swing at one of South Beach's hippest getaways. Across South Florida, similar meltdowns are hitting hotel bottom lines.

``There are quite a few properties on the beach that are facing this problem right now,'' said Boaz Ashbel, who specializes in hotel deals for the Aztec Group, an investment banking firm in Coconut Grove. ``It's going to get a little hairy.''

Troubled South Florida hotel loans are a tiny part of a major problem facing banks around the world -- one that experts say could still cause a crash in the financial system.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave back more than 100 points Monday after a top Federal Reserve official told Congress that U.S. banks could face substantial losses next year on commercial loans and that some may not have enough reserves to cover the bad debt.