by Calculated Risk on 3/30/2017 11:23:00 AM

After some weakness early in the year, hotel occupancy has picked up in recent weeks and is now close to the record year (2015 was the record).

From HotelNewsNow.com: STR: US hotel results for week ending 25 March

U.S. hotels saw year-over-year performance increases for the week of 19-25 March. Occupancy rose 5% to 68.7%, ADR increased 2.9% to $127.68 and RevPAR jumped 7.9% to $87.75.

STR analysts note that performance growth was boosted by an Easter calendar shift (27 March 2016). In comparison with the week of 20-26 March 2016, the industry reported the following in year-over-year comparisons:

Occupancy: +5.0% to 68.7%
Average daily rate (ADR): +2.9% to US$127.68
Revenue per available room (RevPAR): +7.9% to US$87.75
emphasis added

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

The red line is for 2017, dashed is 2015, blue is the median, and black is for 2009 - the worst year since the Great Depression for hotels.

2015 was the best year on record for hotels.

For hotels, occupancy will now move mostly sideways until the summer travel season.

Data Source: STR, Courtesy of HotelNewsNow.com