Edmonton Hotel Demand Improves, Rates Stay Steady After Omicron

The inverted relationship between coronavirus cases and hospitalizations and hotel performance continued this year as the omicron variant spread across Edmonton. As restrictions were imposed, hotel demand fell, pushing occupancy down to 31% in January, a level not seen since the recovery started last summer. In February, improved public health conditions and fewer restrictions resulted in an immediate uptick in occupancy, with preliminary results for February up 12 percentage points compared to January. Now that Alberta is in the second phase of its three-phase reopening plan, capacity limits, gathering restrictions and the work-from-home mandate have all been lifted, setting the stage for further hotel demand to return gradually.