by Calculated Risk on 2/25/2021 11:16:00 AM

From CoStar: STR: US Hotels Nearly Half Full During Week Ending Feb. 20

U.S. weekly hotel occupancy reached its highest level since late October, according to STR‘s latest data through Feb. 20.

Feb. 14-20, 2021 (percentage change from comparable week in 2020):

• Occupancy: 48.1% (-23.8%)
• Average daily rate (ADR): US$101.57 (-22.1%)
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): US$48.82 (-40.6%)

Popular leisure markets in Florida, with leftover demand from the long holiday weekend, posted the week’s highest levels. ... Additionally, displaced Texans pushed week-over-week occupancy gains across STR-defined markets in the state. Texas’ occupancy added almost a point to overall U.S. occupancy for the week.
emphasis added

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

Click on graph for larger image.

The red line is for 2021, black is 2020, blue is the median, and dashed light blue is for 2009 (the worst year since the Great Depression for hotels prior to 2020).

Even when occupancy increases to 2009 levels, hotels will still be hurting.

In a few weeks, the year-over-year comparisons will be easy - since occupancy declined sharply at the onset of the pandemic - but occupancy will still be down significantly from normal levels.

Note: Y-axis doesn't start at zero to better show the seasonal change.