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In an unexpected turn, U.S. demand and occupancy advanced in the latest week of reporting (12-18 September 2021) to the best levels of the past four weeks. Weekly demand increased 1.2 million rooms to 24.3 million, which was the largest weekly gain of the past nine weeks, pushing occupancy to 63.0%. Subdued demand was expected this week due to the mid-week observance of Yom Kippur.
The gain in occupancy was helped by weekly group demand eclipsing 1 million for the first time since the earliest days of the pandemic. More group demand created a lowering effect on ADR, as group rooms for upper-tier classes are typically priced lower than transient rooms.
Following up on STR’s initial Hurricane Ida analysis from 10 September, a vast majority of hotels in the New Orleans MSA have reopened with improving occupancy levels, especially in the core city center/central business district.
Canada’s hotel industry reported its highest monthly performance levels since the pandemic, according to STR’s August 2021 data.
Australian accommodation declines for the 2020-21 financial year were worse for capital markets than regional areas, according to STR’s collection of national accommodation statistics through the Australian Accommodation Monitor.
As the summer leisure travel surge subsided, the U.S. hotel industry reported performance declines from the month prior, according to August 2021 data from STR.
Occupancy for the week ending 11 September 2021 was 60.0%, somewhat better than expected and boosted upward by Labor Day Sunday. Weekday demand was again augmented by the ongoing recovery efforts in Louisiana and surrounding markets due to the lingering impact from Hurricane Ida, but to a lesser extent than in the previous week.
Despite the week-over-week dip, performance levels were solid on an absolute basis considering it was the week of Labor Day as well as Rosh Hashanah from Monday through Wednesday. Neither of those holidays were a factor in the corresponding week two years ago, thus creating steeper declines in comparison with 2019.
Increases in occupancy, ADR and RevPAR accelerated across Manhattan during the second quarter, as the vaccine rollout gained traction in Q1 and early Q2, and the city began to relax restrictions put in place at the height of the pandemic. Off an easy comp (Q2 2020), second quarter RevPAR experienced a year-over-year increase of 103.4 percent, heavily weighted to performance during the month of June.
After the most volatile trading period since benchmarking began, the PwC Hotels Forecast 2021-2022 reveals the green shoots of recovery as demand returns.