NEW YORK—As the fall season comes into full swing, hotels in major North American markets are experiencing an improved advance booking pace, as well as healthy increases in both transient (individual reservations that are made by business and leisure travelers) and group bookings, according to data from the September 2015 TravelClick North American Hospitality Review (NAHR).
Committed occupancy for Q3 2015 through Q2 2016 is up 2.2 percent compared to a year ago, and new reservation commitments that have been added over the last month are up 3.4 percent. When broken down further, new group business bookings that have been added over the last month are up 6.6 percent over the same time last year, and new transient reservations that have been booked over the last month are up 2.8 percent. Average daily rate (ADR) is also up 3.5 percent based on reservations that are currently on the books for 2015.
“The latest advance reservation trends are impressive, especially since there has been concern that the recent global stock market volatility may have an adverse impact on demand,” said John Hach, senior industry analyst at TravelClick. “What is particularly noteworthy is the new demand that’s been generated throughout both group and transient consumers. This bodes well for solidifying occupancy and improving revenue per available room (RevPAR) throughout the upcoming months and into 2016.”
For the next 12 months (September 2015–August 2016), overall committed occupancy is up 3.9 percent when compared to the same time last year. ADR is up 2.6 percent based on reservations that are currently on the books. Transient bookings are up 4.5 percent year-over-year, and ADR for this segment is up 2.9 percent. When broken down further, the transient leisure (discount, qualified, and wholesale) segment is showing occupancy gains of 9.7 percent and ADR gains of 1.8 percent. The transient business (negotiated and retail) segment is down 2.4 percent, but ADR is up 5.0 percent. Group segment occupancy is up 3.6 percent, and ADR has increased 1.9 percent compared to the same time last year.
Hach added, “As hotels gear up for the winter/holiday season, the state of the industry looks positive from both a business and leisure perspective. There is a significant uptick in occupancy, particularly in the group sector and with leisure travelers. As a result, no matter what a hotel caters to—business or leisure—there are opportunities for hoteliers to increase revenue and end the year strong.”
The September NAHR looks at group sales commitments and individual reservations in the 25 major North American markets for hotel stays that are booked by September 1, 2015, from the period of July 2015 to August 2016.
