Canada’s hotel industry reported lower monthly performance levels in January, according to STR’s latest data. January 2022 (percentage change from January 2019)
- Occupancy: 32.4 percent (-35.9 percent)
- Average daily rate: CAD131.72 (-10.6 percent)
- Revenue per available room: CAD42.70 (-42.7 percent)
“The omicron wave and the restrictions that ensued placed added pressure on performance recovery in January,” said Laura Baxter, director of hospitality analytics for Canada for CoStar Group, the parent company of STR. “The largest impact was on occupancy, which dipped to levels not seen since summer 2021. It is, however, positive that the occupancy index to 2019 did not fall as much as it did during the second and third COVID waves. The most recent wave also had a negative impact on room rates, but not to the same extent as occupancy. Prepandemic, the typical seasonal trend indicated that rates fell an average of $8 between December and January, whereas this year, rates fell about $10. Overall, weekend rates were nearly fully recovered during the month, while weekday rates were not too far behind.
Group demand was once again severely impacted by restrictions stemming from the rise in cases and hospitalizations, according to Baxter.
"Now that those case counts and hospitalizations are falling and some restrictions are being lifted, we can expect to see gradual improvement in performance," she said. "Less stringent testing requirements to enter the country will allow for more international travel to take place, which should benefit the underperforming urban hotels.”
Top Markets
Among the provinces and territories, Saskatchewan recorded the highest January occupancy level (36.5 percent), 23.8 percent below the prepandemic comparable. Among the major markets, Vancouver saw the highest occupancy (39.7 percent), a 38.6 percent decline from 2019.
The lowest occupancy among provinces was reported in New Brunswick (18.1 percent), down 55.4 percent against 2019. At the market level, the lowest occupancy was reported in Montreal (-54.5 percent to 23.3 percent).
Of note, hotels in Ottawa reported increased performance levels due to the vaccine mandate protests that started on Jan. 28. The first weekend of protests lifted hotel occupancy in the market to roughly 80 percent. The unrest also helped the hotels' numbers over the weekdays, but not to the same degree as weekends.