by Calculated Risk on 5/28/2020 04:19:00 PM

From HotelNewsNow.com: STR: US hotel results for week ending 23 May

STR data ending with 23 May showed another small rise from previous weeks in U.S. hotel performance. Year-over-year declines remained significant although not as severe as the levels recorded in April.

17-23 May 2020 (percentage change from comparable week in 2019):

• Occupancy: 35.4% (-50.2%)
• Average daily rate (ADR): US$80.92 (-39.7%)
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): US$28.67 (-69.9%)

“The steady climb in national occupancy continued, and to no surprise, the highest levels were recorded on Friday and Saturday ahead of Memorial Day,” said Jan Freitag, STR’s senior VP of lodging insights. “Occupancy gains continue to be led by popular leisure markets like the Florida Panhandle, Mobile, Myrtle Beach and Daytona Beach. We even saw a weekday-to-weekend ADR premium in higher occupancy markets.

“What was also noticeable in the week’s data was the higher occupancy levels across all classes of hotels. Economy properties continued to lead, but we also saw the higher-priced end of the market up over 20%. Regardless, Upper Upscale occupancy continues to lag the broader industry as meeting demand is still not returning.”
emphasis added

The following graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four week average.

Click on graph for larger image.

The red line is for 2020, dash light blue is 2019, blue is the median, and black is for 2009 (the worst year probably since the Great Depression for hotels).

During 2009 (black line), many hotels were struggling. At this point in the year, the 4-week average in 2009 was 56%. Now it is just at 32%! (The median is 65%).

Note: Y-axis doesn't start at zero to better show the seasonal change.