12 major Las Vegas hotels remain dark
A handful of Las Vegas properties have had their lights off for nearly five months. A total of 12 properties owned by MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment, Red Rock Resorts and Boyd Gaming Corp. have yet to reopen in Las Vegas, as occupancy rates hover as low as 30% on weekdays. In second-quarter earnings calls, the executives of these companies revealed that the future of the properties remains uncertain.
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The loss of political convention dollars
The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) is highlighting the negative impact of the U.S. Republican and Democratic national conventions switching to largely virtual conventions over the next two weeks for the host cities of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Both cities were anticipating a positive economic impact of US$200 million, now wiped out by the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to AHLA, which says the canceled conventions are just a microcosm of the hundreds if not thousands of major national and regional events that have been canceled since March.
U.S. hotel performance up slightly
U.S. hotel performance data for the week ended August 8 showed slightly higher occupancy and room rates from the previous week, according to STR.
August 2-8 (percentage change from comparable week in 2019):
Occupancy: 49.9% (-32.6%)
ADR: US$100.88 (-24.9%)
RevPAR: US$50.37 (-49.4%)
U.S. occupancy has risen week over week for 16 of the past 17 weeks, although growth in demand (room nights sold) has slowed. Aggregate data for the top 25 markets showed lower occupancy (41.7%) and ADR (US$98.90) than all other markets. Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Virginia, was the only one of those major markets to reach a 60% occupancy level (66.9%). Three additional markets reached or surpassed 50% occupancy: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-New Jersey (58.5%); Detroit, Michigan (52.5%); and San Diego, California (51.1%). Markets with the lowest occupancy levels for the week included Oahu Island, Hawaii (20.2%), and Orlando, Florida (29.6%).
Domestic business travel shows promise
A poll from the Global Business Travel Association shows an emerging willingness to permit employees to engage in domestic business travel on a global scale. Respondents to the poll continue to report virtually no willingness for employees to travel internationally, with 93% indicating the pandemic has curtailed all or most international business trips. By comparison, 74% of respondents report that the pandemic has curtailed all or most of their organization’s domestic business trips.
Paris palaces face dim future
Coronavirus and the ensuing lockdown have been hard on the City of Lights. The ultra-luxury hotels previously pulled in at least 80% of their guests from outside Europe, a route now closed because of international travel restrictions. As a result, most of the ultra-luxury hotels went into months-long hibernation, from which they will only begin to emerge at the end of this month.