by Calculated Risk on 1/21/2011 12:55:00 PM

The last four weeks have been tough for hotel occupancy with only a small increase over the very low levels for the same period a year ago (includes the holidays). Here is the weekly update on hotels from HotelNewsNow.com: STR: US results for week ending 15 Jan.

In year-over-year comparisons, occupancy increased 4.5 percent to 49.9 percent, average daily rate was up 3.0 percent to US$97.59, and revenue per available room finished the week up 7.6 percent to US$48.70.

The following graph shows the four week moving average of the occupancy rate as a percent of the median occupancy rate from 2000 through 2007.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

Note: I've changed this graph. Since this is the percent of the median from 2000 to 2007, the percent can be greater than 100%.

The down spike in 2001 was due to 9/11. The up spike in late 2005 was hurricane related (Katrina and Rita). The dashed line is the current level.

This shows how deep the slump was in 2009 compared to the period following the 2001 recession. This also shows the occupancy rate improvement has slowed sharply over the last 4 weeks (only about 90% of the median from 2000 to 2007).

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