Main Street Monday – Hotel Occupancy and Revenue Per Room Down 10% from Pre-Pandemic Levels

November 1, 2021

Delaney Sexton
Contributing Editor

Main Street Monday – Hotel Occupancy and Revenue Per Room Down 10% from Pre-Pandemic Levels

“U.S. hotel occupancy dipped a percentage point week over week, while room rates rose slightly,” reads a recent press release from STR about US hotels through October 23rd. The hospitality industry is one of the industries that has been most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. After seeing some improvements, the delta variant once again put a strain on the hotel industry. Nonetheless, economists believe to see more improvement in 2022.

Here is how hotels were performing from October 17th to October 23rd:
• Hotel occupancy was at 63.9%. This is down 9.1% when compared to the same week in 2019, but it is a 2.3% increase from September 2021.
• None of the Top 25 Markets recorded an occupancy increase over 2019.
• Oahu Island and San Francisco/San Mateo had the steepest occupancy declines from 2019, -39.7% for both markets.
• The average daily rate at hotels was $134.14, down 0.6% from 2019. The rate is a dollar more than the average rate in September 2021.
• The revenue per available room was $85.74. This is about a 10% decrease from the comparable week in 2019. In comparison to September 2021, there was a $3.70 increase in revenue per available room.
• San Francisco/San Mateo and Washington D.C. are experiencing significant deficits in revenue per available room. They had a 58.9% decrease and a 49.9% decrease respectively.

Bernie Baumohl, Chief Global Economist of the Economic Outlook Group does forecast that business and international travel should increase in the next year. Hotel owners should hold out for improvements that are likely to come in 2022.

Source:
STR Press Release

Hospitality Industry Forecast