Canada’s hotel industry continued a stretch of year-over-year performance growth, according to CoStar’s September 2023 data.
For the month (percentage change from September 2022):
- Occupancy: 75.3 percent (+1.5 percent)
- Average daily rate: CAD222.02 (+8.1 percent)
- Revenue per available room: CAD167.14 (+9.7 percent)
“Although economists are predicting an economic downturn, Canada’s hotel sector remains on solid footing,” Laura Baxter, CoStar Group’s director of hospitality analytics for Canada, said in a statement. “Room rates continue to drive overall performance, with healthy growth across all segments – that balance remains one of the biggest success stories this year. Occupancy, on the other hand, remains nuanced among the segments.
“Transient demand grew a staggering 14 percent against 2019, while group was down 16 percent against pre-pandemic levels, in line with the trends seen over the past few months. Weekend and weekday occupancy remained ahead of 2019 levels, suggesting business transient demand has improved. Submarkets most reliant on large national accounts, however, are still lagging.”
Top Markets
Among the provinces and territories, Nova Scotia recorded the highest September occupancy level (81.1 percent), which was 0.7 percent below 2022. Among the major markets, Vancouver saw the highest occupancy (86.6 percent), which was 0.5 percent ahead of September 2022.
The lowest occupancy among provinces was reported in Saskatchewan (63.5 percent), up 2.6 percent against 2022. At the market level, the lowest occupancy was reported in Edmonton (+8.8 percent to 63.8 percent).
“Weekday occupancy in Canada’s largest urban centers continues to lag, but downtown Toronto saw a vast improvement in the metric, down just five percentage points," Baxter said. "While September room rates are usually the highest of the year in the area, ADR pushed to $405—a record-high for downtown Toronto.”