Despite stronger performance in the second half of 2021, Canada’s hotel industry reported revenue per available room that was just 54.1 percent of the prepandemic comparable, according to STR’s year-end data.
2021
- Occupancy: 41.8 percent (-35.7 percent from 2019)
- Average daily rate: CAD139.11 (-15.8 percent)
- RevPAR: CAD58.10 (-45.9 percent)
In December specifically, Canada followed its typical seasonal trend with slightly lower performance than November, but the country did achieve better prepandemic comparisons: occupancy (-13.4 percent to 42.6 percent), ADR (-2.5 percent to CAD149.85) and RevPAR (-15.5 percent to CAD63.87).
“Despite a surge in COVID cases toward the latter half of December, hotels in Canada benefited from leisure demand during the holiday weeks,” said Laura Baxter, CoStar Group’s director of hospitality analytics for Canada. (CoStar Group is the parent company of STR.)
“While the holiday demand was expected, overall performance was also helped by a lift in group demand, which rose to 70 percent of the 2019 comparable—the closest the metric has been to that marker since the pandemic began,” Baxter said. "When examining full-year performance, pent-up demand from the domestic market advanced performance over the summer, signaling the start of a much stronger second half of the year. Against the backdrop of fluctuating demand patterns, though, hoteliers focused on what was within their control, which was how rates became the success story of the year. By Q4, monthly room rates reached 90-99 percent of 2019 levels. Weekend rates were particularly strong, surpassing pre-pandemic levels in November and December, while weekday rates were not too far behind with only 5-10 percentage points to go.”
Top Markets
Among the provinces and territories, British Columbia recorded the highest 2021 occupancy level (48.5 percent), which was 30.4 percent below the prepandemic comparable. Among the major markets, Vancouver saw the highest occupancy (47.9 percent), a 39.8 percent decline from 2019.
The lowest yearly occupancy among provinces was reported in New Brunswick (35.1 percent), down 41.1 percent against 2019. At the market level, the lowest occupancy was reported in Montreal (-53.7 percent to 33.1 percent).
“Performance still has a way to go, and the rise in COVID-19 cases related to the omicron variant has not allowed hotels to start off the new year on the right track," Baxter said. "In 2021, we saw a clear, inverted trend between cases, hospitalizations and performance. When public health conditions improved, the recovery picked up pace and vice versa. During the first two weeks of this month, occupancy fell to the 30 percent range–the lowest levels since June 2021. With case numbers falling, we expect a more positive performance picture over the coming weeks.”