For the week of March 8 – 14, hotel data on occupancy and room rates is now available. In the U.S. revenue per available room was down a whopping 32.5% year-over-year.
In comparison with the week of 10-16 March 2019, the industry recorded the following:
• Occupancy: -24.4% to 53.0%
• Average daily rate (ADR): -10.7% to US$120.30
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): -32.5% to US$63.74Performance declines were uniform across chain scales, classes and location types.
Since occupancy was ‘only’ down 24.4% by then, we can confidently state that things are worse this week, and will gett worse still. To be sure you’ll want to calibrate public statements that are as much designed to jockey for a government bailout as give strong information but Marriott’s decision to furlough tens of thousands of employees and close hotels actually did both of those things.
Maybe some of those outrageous $300 + a night rooms will come down to sense able prices when this is over….
Students might help fill empty Florida hotel beds over the next few weeks. The students at our local shuttered colleges and universities decided to take advantage of the super cheap gas price and the Hertz and Enterprise offer to rent SUV and mini-vans to 18-year-olds. Out of work millennials can now drive from Michigan to the Florida beaches and enjoy three weeks of spring break while learning to practice two-inch social distancing. A complaint is the beaches are too crowded.
Restaurant take-out is available and can be consumed by renting one of the abundant and bargain-priced hotel rooms. https://www.facebook.com/HotZ95/videos/21044454363. 9704/
“Bargain priced” hotel rooms and rental cars are still very expensive on a college student’s budget.
At Enterprise, $230 a week for a SUV with unlimited mileage divided by seven people is $32.86 a person.Enterprise, Hertz and other vehicle rental companies lowered their minimum rental age to 18. Fuel is now under $2 per gallon. As a beach closes down due to a government mandate, students simply drive to another beach using the money from their student loans to pay for spring break. View the link of spring break students practicing two inch social distancing. https://www.facebook.com/HotZ95/videos/210444543639704/?hc_location=ufi
And yet when I check prices for a hotel in Copenhagen in late June for a stay pre cruise for a trip that may or may not happen, prices are the same as always. No deals, no discounts
All of the hotels are still listing their regular business traveler prices in the San Francisco Bay Area during Sun-Thurs nights with prices falling on Friday and Saturday. This makes no sense as I can see one hotel (Courtyard) from my backyard that has maybe 6 cars in the lot yet is charging $236 one the member pricing.
This is how the industry will keep its *projected losses when reporting up for the bailout… nothing more.
oh, and I stayed in two different hotels last Fri-Sat. Despite being at 20% capacity, they had everyone on the same floor, next door to each other. And when I checked out, I found they had someone coming into my room right after. Yet, they have four fully empty floors in which are being unused all while cramping in people together for the hotel’s convenience.
And when they jack up the rates, they BS you with supply & demand excuse!