For most of the past year, rural hotels outperformed urban properties, as travelers moved out of cities and into less crowded and outdoor-activity-friendly suburban areas. Meanwhile, higher-end hotels, traditionally dependent on group and business demand, suffered and closed in record numbers as those sources disappeared and the budget-conscious leisure traveler anchored demand.

These worldwide performance trends, however, apply to year-over-year performance at the market or submarket level. Yet for hotels, competitive sets remain the premier benchmark, and despite all the difficulties many of the aforementioned hotel types endured in 2020, competitive set patterns provided a small silver lining.

At an industry level and in year-over-year comparisons, luxury and upper-upscale hotels lost the most demand in 2020. At a comp-set level, however, high-end hotels found grace in average daily rate.

In addition to reporting the highest rates of the six hotel classes pre-COVID-19 and during the pandemic, luxury and upper-upscale hotels also maintained ADR moderately well in 2020, giving them an edge over their comp sets in revenue generation index. Luxury and upper-upscale hotels also were more likely to outperform their comp set than hotels in other classes.

Another unlikely victor emerges when considering location types. Urban hotel demand paled in comparison to rural hotel demand in 2020, yet these centrally located properties still had a higher probability of outperforming their comp set.

As with luxury and upper-upscale hotels, the key to the discrepancy lies in ADR. Pre-pandemic, urban hotels had higher rates than suburban or regional properties, and while rate declined across both location types, their higher base helped urban properties to hold revenue generation index values above their comp set.

Despite the devastation the COVID-19 pandemic has wrought on the hospitality industry, new insights into hotel performance can always be uncovered. For more unique and compelling trends around the world, register for the Hotel Data Conference: Global Edition to view Robin Rossmann’s presentation, "Global Performance Overview."

Kelsey Fenerty is a research analyst at STR.

This article represents an interpretation of data collected by STR, CoStar's hospitality analytics firm. Please feel free to comment or contact an editor with any questions or concerns.