The first ever monthly profit-and-loss data report from STR shows that U.S. hotel gross operating profit per available room fell 101.7 percent during March 2020.
In a year-over-year comparison with March 2019, the industry posted the following:
- Gross operating profit per available room: -101.7 percent to US$-2.10
- Total revenue per available room: -64 percent to US$104.93
- Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization per available room: -116.8 percent to US$-15.44
- Labor per available room (total labor costs): -31.2 percent to US$66.16
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“Our first U.S. monthly P&L release really could not have been timelier, given the unprecedented crisis the industry is facing amid the coronavirus pandemic,” said Joseph Rael, STR’s senior director of financial performance. “As reported via our traditional metrics, occupancy, room rates and RevPAR have plummeted at alarming rates with the virtual standstill of business, travel and leisure activity. As expected, this profitability data is very much aligned with the developing trend in RevPAR.
“Just a few months ago, we were talking about 2020 being a challenging year for profitability given flattening occupancy levels and a lack of hotelier pricing power. Now we’re at a point where thousands of properties have closed around the country due to their inability to operate at any level of profitability.”
At a class level, upper-upscale properties saw the worst decrease in GOPPAR (-108.1 percent).