by Calculated Risk on 7/14/2011 12:27:00 PM

Note: Unless there is a dramatic change, I'm only going to post the hotel occupancy numbers once every few weeks.

From HotelNewsNow.com: LA tops holiday week hotel performance gains

Overall, the U.S. hotel industry’s occupancy rose 2% to 63.8%, ADR increased 3.4% to US$98.40, and RevPAR finished the week up 5.4% to US$62.74.

Note: ADR: Average Daily Rate, RevPAR: Revenue per Available Room.

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

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

The summer leisure travel season has now started, and the occupancy rate will increase over the next couple of months. Right now the occupancy rate is tracking 2008 - and well above 2009 - but still below the "normal" level.

A reminder: the occupancy rate started to fall off in the summer of 2008, and really fell off a cliff in the fall of 2008 ... so I expect the occupancy rate in 2011 to stay mostly above 2008 for the rest of the year.

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

Earlier today ...
• Retail Sales increased 0.1% in June
• Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims decline to 405,000