U.S. Hotel Occupancy Falls in Week Ended December 25, 2021
January 10, 2022 | James Sprow | Blue Vault
U.S. hotel occupancy in the week ended December 25, 2021, fell by 9.5 percentage points from a week prior to 44.3% and was down by 8.7 percentage points from the comparable week in 2019, according to data from STR, a company that tracks the hospitality industry.
However, Christmas Day occupancy on Dec. 25 reached 47.2%, just above the previous high of 47.0% in 2015. STR said that while closures and service disruptions related to the omicron variant of the coronavirus affected performance in New York City, overall U.S. occupancy was less impacted.
A steeper decline from 2019 levels was due more to a calendar shift, as Christmas in 2019 fell on a Wednesday and allowed for an earlier return to nonholiday weekend levels that year, the firm said.
The average daily rate rose by 0.5%, to $129.67, compared with the same period in 2019, while revenue per available room ended the week at $57.46, down by 8.3%.
STR said it is measuring recovery against comparable time periods from 2019 “due to the steep, pandemic-driven performance declines of 2020.”
None of the top 25 markets reported an occupancy increase over 2019, but Dallas came closest at 43.6% occupancy, down by 2.8% from 2019.
San Francisco/San Mateo reported the steepest RevPAR decline, dropping by 32.0% to $65.66, followed by New York City, down by 30.0% to $143.80.
Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence
