Daily hotel room demand had been steadily increasing for a decade until its dip in 2020 with the onset of the pandemic. But the industry appears to be on the mend.
Leisure travel has rebounded smartly during the public health crisis. And over the past few months, hoteliers have reported higher volumes of short-term business and group travel demand across the country.
STR, CoStar's hospitality analytics firm, took note of the uptick when it recently updated its forecast for hotel performance. It predicts that room demand is likely to end 2022 just shy of pre-pandemic levels and then exceed peaks of previous years to reach an all-time high in 2023 and continue to shoot up in 2024.
Revenues are likely to rebound faster, STR predicted. On a nominal basis in the U.S., revenue per available room, a closely followed industry metric, is now expected to surpass 2019 levels in 2022. But when adjusted for inflation, full recovery of so-called RevPAR is not projected until 2024. Harder-hit central business districts and the biggest 25 markets may have to wait until after 2024.