by Calculated Risk on 5/20/2021 11:19:00 AM

Note: The year-over-year occupancy comparisons are easy, since occupancy declined sharply at the onset of the pandemic. However, occupancy is still down significantly from normal levels.

The occupancy rate is down 16.4% compared to the same week in 2019.

From CoStar: STR: US Hotel Average Daily Rate Hits New Pandemic High

U.S. weekly hotel occupancy reached its second-highest level since the start of the pandemic, according to STR‘s latest data through May 15.

May 9-15, 2021 (percentage change from comparable week in 2019*):

• Occupancy: 59.1% (-16.4%)
• Average daily rate (ADR): US$113.54 (-15.4%)
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): US$67.05 (-29.2%)

Friday/Saturday occupancy came in higher than any weekend since Valentine’s Day weekend in 2020. Additionally, ADR reached its highest point of the pandemic but was still US$20 less than the corresponding week in 2019.
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 on record for hotels prior to 2020).

Occupancy is now slightly above the horrible 2009 levels.

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