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COVID-19: Low occupancy for Jamaica | Business travel recovery uncertain

Jamaican hotels face bankruptcy

Months after Jamaica reopened its borders to tourists on June 15, many hotels are still fighting to stay open, with some now facing bankruptcy. Extremely low occupancy at hotels means that not all tourism workers are being employed. While employees are out of work, some with no re-employment prospects for the foreseeable future, it means that hotels will have to make mass redundancy payouts, which could push them into bankruptcy.

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Getty Images

Uncertainty still lingers for business travel recovery

The majority of Global Business Travel Association companies expect their employees to return to in-person events in 2021, according to a recent poll. Almost half (45%) expect attendance to resume in the first half of the year, with an additional 25% expecting a return to in-person events in the second half of 2021. While most do not expect their company to host in-person meetings, events or conferences in 2020, there is growing optimism for 2021, with 37% expecting to host some or many meetings or events in Q1, rising to 61% by Q2.

U.S. occupancy almost flat

U.S. hotel occupancy was nearly flat from the previous week, according to the latest data from STR.

September 13-19 (percentage change from comparable week in 2019):

Occupancy: 48.6% (-31.9%)

ADR: US$95.84 (-28.9%)

RevPAR: US$46.54 (-51.6%)

Demand rose slightly (+0.3%), and the highest occupancy markets were once again those housing displaced residents from Hurricane Laura and western wildfires, with California South/Central showing the highest level in the metric (74.7%). The Louisiana South (72.8%) and Louisiana North (72.3%) markets were also among the top five highest occupancy levels for the week.  

Aggregate data for the top 25 markets showed lower occupancy (42.7%), but higher ADR (US$98.93) than all other markets. Four markets reached or surpassed 50% occupancy: Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Virginia (56.4%); San Diego, California (53.9%); Los Angeles/Long Beach, California (53.3%); and Detroit, Michigan (50.6%). Markets with the lowest occupancy levels for the week included Oahu Island, Hawaii (19.7%), and Orlando, Florida (29.9%). 

How are boutique hotels holding up?

Horwath HTL interviewed consultants at its 50 global offices, in an attempt to gauge where boutique hotels stood in terms of market performance compared with last year. Questions focused on government assistance during the pandemic, in addition to whether testing and contact tracing is working. Additionally, the survey asked how ready markets are for any kind of recovery and when did they expect that recovery to really pick up pace?

Read the survey

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