HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. — STR data for April 26 through May 2, 2020, showed slightly higher U.S. hotel occupancy compared with previous weeks, but the same significant level of year-over-year decline in the three key performance metrics. In comparison with the week of April 28 through May 4, 2019, the industry recorded a 58.5 percent drop in occupancy to 28.6 percent, a 44 percent decline in average daily rate (ADR) to $74.72, and a 76.8 percent fall in revenue per available room (RevPAR) to $21.39 during the week of April 26-May 2.
U.S. Hotel Industry KPIs
April 26-May 2, 2020 vs. April 28-May 4, 2019
Occupancy: -58.5% to 28.6%
ADR: -44.0% to $74.72
RevPAR: -76.8% to $21.39
U.S. absolute occupancy for the previous weeks was 26 percent for April 19-25, 23.4 percent for April 12-18, and 21 percent for April 5-11.
“Week-to-week comparisons showed a third consecutive increase in room demand, which provides further hope that early-April was the performance bottom,” said Jan Freitag, STR’s senior vice president of lodging insights. “TSA checkpoint numbers, up for the second week in a row, aligned with this rise in hotel guest activity, which still remains incredibly low in the big picture. Overall, these last few weeks can be filed under the ‘less bad’ category.”
“At the same time, this past week was the first to show solid evidence of leisure demand as weekend occupancy grew in states that have significantly eased mitigation efforts,” Freitag continued. “As we have noted throughout the pandemic, the leisure segment will be the first to show a demand bounce back. In weeks prior, the more reasonable conclusion was that hotels were selling mostly to essential worker types.”
Top 25 Market Performance — April 26-May 2, 2020
Aggregate data for the Top 25 Markets showed larger year-over-year declines than the national averages during the week of April 26-May 2: occupancy declined 64.8 percent YOY to 27 percent, ADR dropped 51.1 percent to $81.28, and RevPAR fell 82.8 percent to $21.92.
Among those Top 25 Markets, Oahu Island, Hawaii, experienced the largest drop in occupancy (down 88.7 percent) and the only single-digit absolute occupancy level (9.7 percent). The decline in occupancy resulted in the steepest decrease in RevPAR (down 93.5 percent to $13.93). Boston posted the largest decline in ADR (down 60.5 percent to $90.01). Of note, absolute occupancy in New York was 44.9 percent—up from 41 percent the previous week. In Seattle, occupancy was 23.8 percent—up from 22.4 percent the week prior.
