STR: Steep RevPAR drops continue due to COVID-19 pandemic

ANOTHER WEEK OF RevPAR declines for the U.S. hotel industry, the new normal under the COVID-19 pandemic, according to STR. For the week ending April 11 the drop was 69.8 percent to 21 percent.

During the same week, ADR went down 45.6 percent to $74.18 and RevPAR dropped 83.6 percent to $15.61.

“There was not much of a change from last week. As we’ve noted, RevPAR declines of this severity are our temporary new normal,” said Jan Freitag, STR’s senior VP of lodging insights. “Several weeks of data also point to occupancy in the 20 percent range to be the low point, and economy hotels holding at a higher occupancy level is the pattern right now.”

The nation’s top 25 markets saw steeper declines in their aggregate score. Occupancy dropped 75.1 percent to 19.6 percent, ADR was down 51.7 percent to $81.58 and RevPAR went down 88 percent to $16.01.

Oahu Island, Hawaii, continued to see the largest decrease in occupancy, down 90.9 percent to 7.1 percent, only single-digit absolute occupancy level. The island also saw the steepest decline in RevPAR, down 94 percent to $10.26.

San Francisco/San Mateo, California, posted the largest decrease in ADR, down 62.5 percent to $107.42. Occupancy in New York was down 71.7 percent to 24.8 percent. In Seattle, occupancy dropped 70.9 percent to 20.2 percent. Each of those absolute occupancy levels were higher than the previous week, possibly due to an influx of medical workers and first responders requiring lodging in those cities.