Source: Hotel News Now
By Robert McCune
June 12, 2020
SALISBURY, Connecticut—The latest picture from weekly U.S. hotel performance data shows relative occupancy and rate strength in markets with outdoor demand drivers, such as beaches and national parks.
Average U.S. hotel revenue per available room for the week ending 6 June was down 65% year over year, which was slightly worse than the prior week (-62.1% year over year), but that difference is likely attributable to the Memorial Day comp, said Jan Freitag, STR’s SVP of lodging insights.
“We are now comparing ourselves back to a normal week, and so therefore RevPAR declines were a little worse,” he said.
Demand, however, continues to uptick, with 13.5 million rooms sold during the week ending 6 June. Much of that strength comes from U.S. markets such as Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where weekend occupancy was 83.4%.
“The weekend occupancy continues to be healthy in submarkets and markets that have access to nature, specifically beaches or national or state parks,” Freitag said.
Pricing power is also stronger in beach markets. For the week of 6 June, for example, Myrtle Beach hotels grew ADR 160% over 11 April, “arguably the low point of the U.S. hotel industry,” he said.
From a class standpoint, economy hotels continue to have a demand edge, selling 50.3% of their rooms for the week, compared 22.1% of rooms sold in upper upscale and 25.3% sold in luxury.
