Luxury and economy hotels reported year-over-year occupancy growth of more than 5 percent this past September, according to Kalibri Labs’ U.S. Hotel Industry Performance Overview. Other segments reported flat or declining occupancy, resulting in total U.S. occupancy rising 1 percent YOY.
Higher occupancy, however, did not necessarily translate to an increase in revenues. Despite having the highest occupancy of the top 10 markets, New York City (92 percent) and San Francisco (87 percent) both reported declining average daily rate (ADR based on the total room revenue paid by the guest, inclusive of all transaction-specific direct reservation costs). Kalibri Labs also found the two markets experienced the longest booking lead times, roughly five weeks, which it noted historically has been an indicator of pricing power.
According to the group’s research, year-to-date, hotels with more than 140 rooms had average occupancies of more than 70 percent, while hotels with fewer than 60 rooms had an average occupancy of 55 percent.
When evaluating channel/source-of-business performance on a year-to-date basis, the analytics company found the voice channel made up slightly more than 7 percent of all room-night bookings. This small percentage is a continuation of a decline that has been going on for the past several years, according to Kalibri Labs.