HERSHA HOSPITALITY TRUST, another large hotel company forced to make cuts during the COVID-19 pandemic, will report its second quarter earnings in early August. In preview to that, STR has released its U.S. hotel performance data for the quarter and June showing declines in performance that were the worst for any quarter on record.
Hersha, led by Jay Shah, CEO, and his brother Neil Shah, the company’s president and chief operating officer, will release its second quarter standing after the stock market closes on Aug. 5. It will then hold a conference call to discuss the quarter’s results at 9 a.m. Aug. 6 led by Jay, Neil and Ashish Parikh, chief financial officer.
The call can be accessed by calling 1-888-317-6003 or 1-412-317-6061 for international participants and entering the passcode 9039763 approximately 10 minutes in advance of the call. It also will be webcast live on the company’s website.
Like other large companies preparing to announce their second quarter results next month, such as Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Hyatt Hotels Corp. and Choice Hotels International, Hersha has had to make sacrifices during the pandemic. It had to suspend operations at 19 hotels with the remaining 29 open hotels operating with minimal staff to reduce labor cost. Other measures include suspending capital expenditures planned through the end of the year to save between $10 million and $15 million and reducing Jay and Neil’s salaries by 50 percent.
The entire industry saw record reductions in every metric of performance in the second quarter, according to STR. Occupancy dropped 52.1 percent to 33.5 percent, ADR fell 37.1 percent to $83.59 and RevPAR declined 69.9 percent to $27.98. In June alone occupancy dropped 42.5 percent to 42.2 percent, ADR dropped 31.5 percent to $92.15 and RevPAR dipped 60.6 percent to $38.88.
Oahu Island, Hawaii, saw the steepest drop in occupancy among the top 25 markets for the quarter, down 86.2 percent to 11.5 percent, and June down 82.4 percent to 15.4 percent. The island also saw the stiffest drop in RevPAR, down 91.2 percent to $17.08 for the quarter and 88.2 percent to $25.30 for June.
Boston saw the steepest decline in ADR for both the quarter, down 56.9 percent to $95.85, and June, down 55.3 percent to $102.58.
