STR data for April 26 through May 2 showed slightly higher U.S. hotel occupancy compared with previous weeks, but the same significant level of year-over-year decline in the three key performance metrics. In comparison with the week of 28 April through 4 May 2019, the industry recorded the following:
- Occupancy: -58.5% to 28.6%
- ADR: -44.0% to US$74.72
- RevPAR: -76.8% to US$21.39
Previous weekly U.S. absolute occupancy:
- April 19-25: 26%
- April 12-18: 23.4%
- April 5-11: 21%
Aggregate data for the top 25 markets showed larger year-over-year declines than the national averages: occupancy (-64.8% to 27.0%), ADR (-51.1% to US$81.28) and RevPAR (-82.8% to US$21.92).
Among those markets, Oahu Island, Hawaii, experienced the largest drop in occupancy (-88.7%) and the only single-digit absolute occupancy level (9.7%). The decline in occupancy resulted in the steepest decrease in RevPAR (-93.5% to US$13.93). Boston, Massachusetts, posted the largest decline in ADR (-60.5% to US$90.01). Of note, absolute occupancy in New York City was 44.9%, up from 41.0% the previous week. In Seattle, Washington, occupancy was 23.8%, up from 22.4% the week prior.
However, led by Florida and Texas,13 STR-defined submarkets showed greater than 10-point weekend versus weekday occupancy gains for the week ended May 2.
“The first ‘real weekend’ with eased COVID-19 restrictions showed an obvious jump in hotel demand, especially in popular, warm-weather leisure spots,” said Jan Freitag, STR’s senior VP of lodging insights. “Whether or not this becomes a trend remains to be seen, but the fact that there were people instantly willing to head out for leisure activity and stay in hotels is a positive sign for the industry. We have maintained throughout this pandemic that the leisure segment would be the first to return, it is just a matter of when.”
In Galveston and Texas City, Texas, weekday occupancy (April 26-30) was 26.1%; weekday occupancy (May 1-2) was 57.0%. In the Mobile, Alabama area, weekday and weekend occupancies were 20.1% and 47.8%, respectively.