U.S. weekly hotel occupancy reached its second-highest level since the start of the pandemic, according to STR‘s latest data through the middle of May.
For the week of May 9-15, occupancy reached 59.1 percent, down 16.4 percent from the comparable week in 2019. (Due to the pandemic-driven performance declines of 2020, STR is measuring recovery against comparable time periods from 2019.) Average daily rate was $113.54, down 15.4 percent from 2019, while revenue per available room was $67.05, down 29.2 percent.
Friday/Saturday occupancy came in higher than any weekend since Valentine’s Day weekend in 2020. Additionally, ADR reached its highest point of the pandemic but was still $20 less than the corresponding week in 2019.
Top Markets
Many top 25 markets reflected improved business travel volume with noticeable week-over-week demand increases.
Tampa, Fla., was the only top 25 market to report an occupancy increase over 2019, increasing 4.8 percent to 72.1 percent. San Francisco/San Mateo saw the steepest decline in occupancy when compared with 2019 (down 49.1 percent to 43.9 percent).
In terms of ADR, Miami (up 34.8 percent to $233.81); Tampa (up 10.3 percent to $138.47); and Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Va., (up 0.3 percent to $106.46) were the only top 25 markets with levels higher than 2019.
For RevPAR, Miami (up 32.5 percent to $174.55) and Tampa (up 15.6 percent to $99.90) were the only markets with levels higher than the 2019 comparable.
The largest RevPAR deficits were in San Francisco/San Mateo (down 73.7 percent to US$59.05) and Boston (down 73.2 percent to $57.31).