HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. — Reflecting the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. hotel industry reported significant year-over-year declines across three key performance metrics during the week of March 22-28, 2020, according to data from STR. In comparison with the week of March 24-30, 2019, the industry recorded a 67.5 percent decline in occupancy to 22.6 percent, a 39.4 percent drop in average daily rate (ADR) to $79.92, and an 80.3 percent fall in revenue per available room (RevPAR) to $18.05
“Year-over-year declines of this magnitude will, unfortunately, be the ‘new normal’ until the number of new COVID-19 cases slows significantly,” said Jan Freitag, STR’s senior vice president of lodging insights. “Occupancy continues to fall to unprecedented lows, with more than 75 percent of rooms empty around the nation last week. As projected in our U.S. forecast revision, 2020 will be the worst year on record for occupancy. We do, however, expect the industry to begin to recover once the economy reignites and travel resumes.”
Top 25 Markets — Hotel Performance for March 22-28
Aggregate data for the Top 25 Markets showed steeper declines for the week of March 22-28, 2020, as compared to the previous year: occupancy dropped 74.5 percent to 19.6 percent, ADR fell 43.9 percent to $89.71, and RevPAR declined 85.7 percent to $17.60.
New Orleans recorded the steepest decline in RevPAR (down 92.8 percent to $10.27), due primarily to the second-largest decreases in occupancy (down 84.9 percent to 12.7 percent) and ADR (down 52.3 percent to $80.74). Oahu Island, Hawaii, experienced the steepest drop in occupancy (down 86.4 percent to 10.5 percent). Miami posted the largest decline in ADR (down 57.9 percent to $116.64). Of note, occupancy in New York was down 81.8 percent to 15.2 percent. In Seattle, occupancy dropped 76.6 percent to 18.5 percent.
