BROOMFIELD, Colorado—With the favorable supply and demand dynamics in the hotel industry, we are breaking new records month after month, according to data from STR, the parent company of Hotel News Now. It’s almost like the steroid era in baseball.
In July, which tends to be the strongest month for demand each year, every topline metric hit a new record. Most notably, occupancy topped 65.3% for the running 12-month period and the industry surpassed the 5-million-room supply barrier.
So far in 2015, 83 of the 630 U.S. submarkets have broken record occupancy thresholds, the most in any year. (Record occupancy on a running 12-month period)
Occupancy & Sellouts
The last two weekends of July consistently achieve some of the highest demand levels each year. The lowest occupancies occur around the Christmas holiday when they typically drop below 35%. The lowest occupancy recorded was 27.5% on Christmas Eve, Wednesday, 24 December 2008.
Memorial Day Weekend is extremely popular for beach resorts in the Northeast, and in 2012 Cape Cod managed to sell many of its rooms multiple times. Key West is consistently one of the top occupancy submarkets. Over the past 10 years, Key West has had 250 nights with occupancy above 98%. This year, Key West could break its record of 55 sellout nights as it already has 53 through July.
Two other submarkets are threatening to surpass the record as well: San Francisco Airport has 52 sellout nights to date and Boston CBD/Airport has 49 sellout nights this year.
Average Daily Rate
The U.S. achieves its highest average rate on New Year’s Eve each year. The 2014 average daily rate on New Year’s Eve was a 27% premium over the ADR for the year. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving consistently has the dubious honor of marking the lowest ADR each year, typically 15% to 20% below the annual ADR.
Like the national hotel industry, many submarkets achieve their highest ADRs on New Year’s Eve. The second highest ADR ever achieved was $850 by the Louisville CBD on Friday, 1 May 2015, the day before the Kentucky Derby.
RevPAR & Room Revenue
The last two Saturdays in July and the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend usually attain the highest room revenue and RevPAR levels each year. The Sunday after Thanksgiving and the days surrounding Christmas generally mark the lowest RevPAR periods.
Demand compression on New Year’s Eve is strong in both major cities, such as New York City and New Orleans, as well as popular resorts destinations, such as Orlando, Florida; Miami; Anaheim, California; and Hawaii.