The new U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is expected to help boost the number of visitors to the city and fill hotel rooms. (Visit Colorado City)By Richard Lawson
CoStar News
July 30, 2020
The hotel industry’s economic recovery slowed for another week as growth in room demand dwindles with more confirmed coronavirus cases across the country.
While hotel occupancy nationwide rose to 48.1% for the week ended July 25 from 47.5% the previous week, that increase was at a slower rate than for the week ended July 18, according to hotel research firm STR, which is owned by CoStar Group, the publisher of CoStar News.
Occupancy is 37.9% below the same week last year, a smaller improvement from the previous week's 38.9% decline from a year earlier than was the case in prior weeks. It’s the same story with the average daily rate and revenue per available room, two additional hotel performance measures used by owners, investors and lenders to value hospitality properties.
Demand for hotel rooms has been growing, but at a slower rate than in May and June when cities and states were reopening and before the rise in confirmed coronavirus cases slowed demand for rooms.
The average week-to-week increase in demand has dropped to 2.8% since mid-June, slowing from the 8.3% average weekly improvement between mid-April and mid-June, according to STR. Last week, demand for rooms grew just 1.3%.
Jan Freitag, STR’s senior vice president for lodging insights, said revenue per available room is only getting incrementally better. “The nice gains that we saw in early May and June are certainly a thing of the past,” Freitag said.
STR reported that revenue per available room was $47.75, which is 54.8% lower than the same week last year. That’s a slight improvement from the previous week’s rate being 56% lower than the same week a year earlier. Meanwhile, the average daily rate for the week came in at $99.24, which is 27.3% lower than last year. That improved only slightly from the previous week's rate, which was 28% lower than last year.
The U.S. occupancy gains have essentially stalled compared to China, which is where the coronavirus was first identified, and in Europe, Freitag said. STR data shows hotels in China and Europe steadily gained occupancy for the most part since early- to -mid April when the industry bottomed around the world.
Even so, weekend occupancy for U.S. hotels proved to be a bright spot, averaging 55.85% on July 24 and 25, Freitag said.
Western states still lead the country for hotel occupancy with travelers perhaps viewing those relatively sparsely populated areas as better places to avoid potential coronavirus infections.
Idaho moved ahead of South Dakota for the top spot among states with the highest occupancy at 68%. South Dakota hotels had 67.2%, followed by Montana’s 66.7% and Wyoming’s 63.5%.
Colorado Springs, Colorado, topped the list of cities with the highest weekend occupancy, at 88.7%. The city once again held the No. 1 spot for the week as well at 77.3%, according to STR.
Alexea Veneracion, spokeswoman for Visit Colorado Springs, said the wide-open spaces in the area have attracted to visitors who see the ability to social distance with activities such as rafting trips and scaling Pikes Peak.
While visitors have been coming, “it’s still not anywhere near what we have been,” Veneracion said.
She said that occupancy could start improving in part because of the opening of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs on Thursday. The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee headquarters is in Colorado Springs.
Though the west has been winning on hotel occupancy, some beach destinations have seen a resurgence in demand.
STR data showed that the New Jersey shore came in behind Colorado Springs on weekend occupancy at 83.8% and full week occupancy at 71.2%. That part of the northeast had struggled to overcome the worst of the coronavirus outbreaks after a long stretch when national headlines were saying the area was leading the country in cases and deaths early in the pandemic.
Demand slowed at Florida beaches when confirmed coronavirus cases rose to begin breaking daily records in the state in late June and into July, but there has been some recovery recently.
Daytona Beach, Florida, posted weekend occupancy of 77.8%, though midweek occupancy was 52%, according to STR. Sarasota/Bradenton reached nearly 70% occupancy on the weekend. Miami, which has been hit hard by the pandemic, had occupancy for the week at 30.7%.
CoStar News
July 30, 2020
The hotel industry’s economic recovery slowed for another week as growth in room demand dwindles with more confirmed coronavirus cases across the country.
While hotel occupancy nationwide rose to 48.1% for the week ended July 25 from 47.5% the previous week, that increase was at a slower rate than for the week ended July 18, according to hotel research firm STR, which is owned by CoStar Group, the publisher of CoStar News.
Occupancy is 37.9% below the same week last year, a smaller improvement from the previous week's 38.9% decline from a year earlier than was the case in prior weeks. It’s the same story with the average daily rate and revenue per available room, two additional hotel performance measures used by owners, investors and lenders to value hospitality properties.
Demand for hotel rooms has been growing, but at a slower rate than in May and June when cities and states were reopening and before the rise in confirmed coronavirus cases slowed demand for rooms.
The average week-to-week increase in demand has dropped to 2.8% since mid-June, slowing from the 8.3% average weekly improvement between mid-April and mid-June, according to STR. Last week, demand for rooms grew just 1.3%.
Jan Freitag, STR’s senior vice president for lodging insights, said revenue per available room is only getting incrementally better. “The nice gains that we saw in early May and June are certainly a thing of the past,” Freitag said.
STR reported that revenue per available room was $47.75, which is 54.8% lower than the same week last year. That’s a slight improvement from the previous week’s rate being 56% lower than the same week a year earlier. Meanwhile, the average daily rate for the week came in at $99.24, which is 27.3% lower than last year. That improved only slightly from the previous week's rate, which was 28% lower than last year.
The U.S. occupancy gains have essentially stalled compared to China, which is where the coronavirus was first identified, and in Europe, Freitag said. STR data shows hotels in China and Europe steadily gained occupancy for the most part since early- to -mid April when the industry bottomed around the world.
Even so, weekend occupancy for U.S. hotels proved to be a bright spot, averaging 55.85% on July 24 and 25, Freitag said.
Western states still lead the country for hotel occupancy with travelers perhaps viewing those relatively sparsely populated areas as better places to avoid potential coronavirus infections.
Idaho moved ahead of South Dakota for the top spot among states with the highest occupancy at 68%. South Dakota hotels had 67.2%, followed by Montana’s 66.7% and Wyoming’s 63.5%.
Colorado Springs, Colorado, topped the list of cities with the highest weekend occupancy, at 88.7%. The city once again held the No. 1 spot for the week as well at 77.3%, according to STR.
Alexea Veneracion, spokeswoman for Visit Colorado Springs, said the wide-open spaces in the area have attracted to visitors who see the ability to social distance with activities such as rafting trips and scaling Pikes Peak.
While visitors have been coming, “it’s still not anywhere near what we have been,” Veneracion said.
She said that occupancy could start improving in part because of the opening of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs on Thursday. The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee headquarters is in Colorado Springs.
Though the west has been winning on hotel occupancy, some beach destinations have seen a resurgence in demand.
STR data showed that the New Jersey shore came in behind Colorado Springs on weekend occupancy at 83.8% and full week occupancy at 71.2%. That part of the northeast had struggled to overcome the worst of the coronavirus outbreaks after a long stretch when national headlines were saying the area was leading the country in cases and deaths early in the pandemic.
Demand slowed at Florida beaches when confirmed coronavirus cases rose to begin breaking daily records in the state in late June and into July, but there has been some recovery recently.
Daytona Beach, Florida, posted weekend occupancy of 77.8%, though midweek occupancy was 52%, according to STR. Sarasota/Bradenton reached nearly 70% occupancy on the weekend. Miami, which has been hit hard by the pandemic, had occupancy for the week at 30.7%.