by Calculated Risk on 12/24/2009 10:10:00 PM

From HotelNewsNow.com: STR reports US performance for week ending 19 December

In year-over-year measurements, the industry’s occupancy declined 0.5 percent to end the week at 42.6 percent. Average daily rate dropped 5.2 percent to finish the week at US$87.98. Revenue per available room for the week decreased 5.6 percent to finish the period at US$37.47. The 0.5-percent occupancy decrease was the best full-week performance of the year for that metric. The 5.2-percent ADR drop was the third best full-week performance of the year behind two consecutive weeks in January. The 5.6-percent fall in RevPAR was the best full-week performance of the year.

A major snow storm on the East Coast and easier year-over-year comparisons helped buoy the numbers.

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

This graph shows the occupancy rate by week for each of the last four years (2006 through 2009 labeled by start of month).

Note: Some of the holidays don't line up - especially at the end of the year.

Data Source: Smith Travel Research, Courtesy of HotelNewsNow.com (Note: They have a free daily email too for hotel news)

As I've been mentioning, there is now growing evidence that the hotel industry has stabilized at this low occupancy rate, although room rates will still be under pressure because this is the lowest occupancy rate (annual) since the Great Depression.

The end of the year can be a little confusing because of the holidays, and the next key week will be mid-to-late January to see if business travel is picking up in 2010.