by Calculated Risk on 3/18/2010 12:51:00 PM

From HotelNewsNow.com: STR: New Orleans tops weekly numbers

Overall the industry’s occupancy ended the week with a 4.6-percent increase to 57.7 percent, ADR dropped 1.9 percent to US$97.80, and RevPAR was up 2.6 percent to US$56.44.

The following graph shows the occupancy rate by week since 2000, and the rolling 52 week average occupancy rate.

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

Note: the scale doesn't start at zero to better show the change.

The graph shows the distinct seasonal pattern for the occupancy rate; higher in the summer because of leisure/vacation travel, and lower on certain holidays.

It appears that occupancy rates have bottomed and even started to increase, but the level is still well below normal - the average occupancy rate for this week is close to 62%, well above the current 57.7%. This low occupancy rate is still pushing down room rates (on a YoY basis) although revenue per available room (RevPAR) increased.

As mentioned last week, the other good news for the industry (although bad news for construction employment) is that the pipeline of new hotel projects has slowed sharply, see: STR: US pipeline for February 2010

Data Source: Smith Travel Research, Courtesy of HotelNewsNow.com